Geauga County – University Hospitals (UH) Geauga Medical Center recently received the “Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke” Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The prestigious award recognizes the community hospital’s commitment to and success in implementing a higher standard of care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally- accepted guidelines.
UH Geauga Medical Center is a Joint Commission-certified Stroke Center. Get With The Guidelines – Stroke helps the hospital’s specialized stroke care team develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes to improve patient care and outcomes. The program provides these resources to help the team facilitate outstanding stroke care:
*A web-based patient management tool.
*Best-practice discharge protocols and standing orders.
*A robust registry and real-time benchmarking capabilities to track performance results.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds and someone dies of a stroke every four minutes. UH Geauga Medical Center’s quick and efficient use of national guideline procedures can improve the quality of care for stroke patients, reduce disability and save lives.
“Recent studies show that patients treated according to the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke program receive a higher quality of care and experience better outcomes,” says Peggy Kuhar, RN, MSN, FABC, Chief Nursing Officer, UH Geauga Medical Center. “In a stroke situation, ‘time is brain,’ and we are equipped and trained to provide the fastest, most advanced stoke care possible to patients in the Geauga County area.”
Following Get With The Guidelines – Stroke treatment at UH Geauga Medical Center, patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies. These are all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
“Our care for stroke patients is among the best in the nation and the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke program helps us achieve that consistent quality,” says M. Steven Jones, President, UH Geauga Medical Center. “This award demonstrates that we are committed to unparalleled stroke care, delivered by an exceptional team of physicians and nurses.”
For more information about the certified Stroke Center capabilities at UH Geauga Medical Center, call 440-285-7757.
