ATLANTA, Texas – CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes 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.
CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta earned the 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.
“CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta is dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” said Micah Johnson, MSN, BSN, RN, Administrator/Chief Nursing Officer, CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”
To qualify for this recognition, CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta met 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.
“We are pleased to recognize CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”
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 and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
“Nearly 1 million Americans suffer from a stroke each year,” said Nicole Fant, MSN, RN, SCRN, RN Program Manager- Trauma/Stroke/Chest Pain for CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta. “For this reason and to be proactive in stroke prevention, CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta offers patients a chance to learn more about their risks and what options for prevention they have in just a few short minutes through taking a free health risk assessment online at ChristusStMichael.org/StrokeRisk.”
By the numbers: Someone dies from Stroke in America every
Every year in the United States, Stroke kills 140,000 people – that is the entire population of Texarkana… and Hot Springs combined.
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CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta, located along U.S. Highway 77 and South William Street in Atlanta, Texas, provides general and medical care for inpatient, outpatient, and emergency department patients. The 43-bed hospital is accredited with The Joint Commission (TJC) Gold Seal of Approval™ – demonstrating compliance with TJC standards for health care quality and safety. In addition, CHRISTUS St. Michael Hospital – Atlanta is designated a Support Stroke Level III Facility, offering teleneurology and tPA (tissue plasminogen activator) for treatment of strokes. Along with inpatient care, the hospital provides emergency services staffed by physicians and specially trained registered nurses – several of whom have earned advanced certifications in strokes, emergency, and trauma care. The hospital operates as a Level IV Trauma Center, holds Chest Pain Accreditation from the American College of Cardiology (ACC) and offers pediatric emergency telemedicine.
Other services include: in-hospital pharmacy, radiology/imaging for inpatient and outpatient care, CAP-accredited clinical laboratory, outpatient rehabilitation, wound care, sleep disorders center, outpatient cardiac-pulmonary rehabilitation, comprehensive diabetes education, and a health and fitness center.
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with tools and resources to increase adherence to the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 6 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org.