ST. PETERSBURG, Fla., (October 11, 2017) -- St. Anthony's Hospital has been recognized for providing quality care to stroke patients with the Get With the Guidelines Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target Stroke Honor Roll Elite from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association.
"It is truly an honor to be recognized for our stroke program and the award shows our commitment to excellence in stroke care," said Scott Smith, St. Anthony's Hospital president. "Every minute that a stroke patient goes untreated, brain function deteriorates. Our goal is to treat stroke patients quickly and effectively with quality care using evidence-based guidelines."
St. Anthony’s Hospital earned the Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award by achieving 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke achievement indicators for at least 12 consecutive months. During that same period, St. Anthony’s also achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of the eight Get With the Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care.
To earn the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite recognition, St. Anthony’s had to meet for a designated period quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with several medications aimed at reducing death and disability from stroke.
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most current, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing disability for stroke patients. According to the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, these guideline have impacted more than 3 million patients since 2003.
“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize St. Anthony’s Hospital for its commitment to stroke care,” said Paul Heidenreich, MD, MS, national chairman of the Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee and professor of medicine at Stanford University. “Research has shown there are benefits to patients who are treated at hospitals that have adopted the Get With The Guidelines program.”
St. Anthony's Hospital also has accomplished Disease-Specific Care Certification –
Advanced Primary Stroke by The Joint Commission. The Joint Commission is an independent, not-for-profit organization that accredits and certifies more than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States. Neurologist Allan Weiss, MD, acts as the St. Anthony’s stroke program’s medical director and leads a team of physicians, nurses, technicians and rehabilitation therapists to provide comprehensive care to stroke patients.
A stroke is a disease that affects the arteries leading to and within the brain and occurs when a blood vessel that carries nutrients and oxygen to the brain is blocked. Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States, according to the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. A stroke occurs every 40 seconds in the United States and approximately 800,000 Americans suffer from a new or reoccurring stroke each year.
For more information on the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® hospital-based quality improvement program, visit
Heart.org/Quality.
About St. Anthony’s Hospital
St. Anthony’s Hospital is a 393-bed hospital founded in 1931 as a ministry of the Franciscan Sisters of Allegany. St. Anthony’s has a rich history dedicated to improving the health of the community by providing high-quality, innovative and compassionate care. For more information on St. Anthony’s, call
(727) 953-6993 or go to
www.BayCare.org/SAH.
About BayCare
BayCare is a leading not-for-profit health care system that connects individuals and families to a wide range of services at 14 hospitals and hundreds of other convenient locations throughout the Tampa Bay and central Florida regions. Inpatient and outpatient services include acute care, primary care, imaging, laboratory, behavioral health, home care, and wellness. Our mission is to improve the health of all we serve through community-owned, health care services that set the standard for high-quality, compassionate care. For more information visit
www.BayCare.org.
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