Advocate Lutheran General Hospital Receives Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus
Advocate Lutheran General Hospital has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite Plus - the highest level of recognition for stroke care. The award recognizes the hospital's commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
Hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures to receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient's arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability.
"This recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association reinforces our team's commitment to the rapid identification and emergency treatment of stroke," said Dr. Tim Mikesell, medical director of the Stroke Center at Lutheran General Hospital. "As a certified Comprehensive Stroke Center, Lutheran General Hospital has the most advanced clinical specialists, resources and facilities to treat the most complex cases of stroke and provide the most comprehensive stroke care for our community."
The Get With The Guidelines-Stroke quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Lutheran General is consistently recognized year after year for its commitment to quality and safety in stroke care and treats more than 600 cases of stroke annually.
"Our exceptional stroke program is one of many ways we provide comprehensive neurological care close to home," said Dr. Wayne Rubinstein, co-medical director of the Brain and Spine Institute at Lutheran General Hospital. "Our highly trained specialists and advanced treatment options allow us to care for everything from stoke to complex brain tumors with excellent outcomes for patients."
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.