The Medical Center, Navicent Health (MCNH) has earned its tenth consecutive “Get With the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus” Quality Achievement Award, an annual award presented by the American Heart Association / American Stroke Association (AHA) for excellence in stroke care. 

In addition, MCNH has also been named to AHA’s “Target: Stroke^SM Honor Roll Elite” for the fourth consecutive year. The awards recognize the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

For the first time this year, AHA also recognized hospitals who are taking steps to help stroke patients control and manage Type 2 diabetes, a well-established risk factor for stroke. MCNH has been named to AHA’s inaugural “Target Type 2 Diabetes” Honor Roll, scoring 98.8 percent on a 100-point scale.  MCNH has made great strides in helping central Georgians manage their diabetes, particularly resolving racial and gender disparities for those with this disease.

MCNH earned the “Get With the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus” Quality Achievement Award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions. 

MCNH additionally received the association’s “Target: Stroke^SM Honor Roll Elite” designation. To qualify for this recognition, 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 treatischemic stroke.

“The Medical Center, Navicent Health’s is dedicated to deliver advanced stroke care to patients quickly and safely. Our stroke team works diligently to provide timely, proven care for our patients, and continues to raise the standard of excellence as we treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols. The tools and resources provided by the American Heart Association’s Get With the Guidelines Initiative help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes,” said Tom Oliver, M.D., President of Hospitals and Clinics for Navicent Health.    

These 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. 

According to AHA, stroke is the fifth leading causes of death and the leading cause of serious, long-term 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.  

“The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and an aging population. The Medical Center, Navicent Health remains focused on improving the quality of stroke care by implementing evidence-based guidelines, including Get With The Guidelines–Stroke,” said Denise Goings, RN, MSN, SCRN, ASC-BC Stroke Coordinator for MCNH.