November 16, 2006
MAURY REGIONAL HOSPITAL PARTICIPATES IN GET WITH THE GUIDELINES PROGRAM TO IMPROVE STROKE CARE
COLUMBIA, TN—Maury Regional Hospital is participating in the American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke initiative. The goal of the program is to improve the overall quality of care for stroke patients by improving acute stroke treatment and preventing future strokes and cardiovascular events.
Get With The Guidelines – Stroke was developed to help hospitals employ proven science-based treatment guidelines, including those developed by the American Stroke Association, American Heart Association and Brain Attack Coalition. These guidelines address acute stroke management, primary prevention of cardiovascular diseases, secondary prevention of strokes and the establishment of primary stroke centers.
As a Get With The Guidelines – Stroke participating hospital, Maury Regional Hospital has developed a comprehensive system for providing rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke when patients arrive in the emergency department. This includes being equipped 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide brain imaging scans, making neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.
Maury Regional Hospital is also increasing its efforts to prevent secondary strokes through the aggressive use of medications such as statins and anti-platelets as indicated in the secondary stroke prevention guidelines. Other methods include the treatment of atrial fibrillation and atherosclerosis and management of smoking cessation, weight, exercise, diabetes, and cholesterol.
Through Get With The Guidelines – Stroke, the American Stroke Association provides Maury Regional Hospital training and staffing recommendations, care maps, discharge protocols, standing orders, data-collection and measurement tools. The program also facilitates creating and sharing best practices among participating hospitals.
“Our neurologists, nursing staff, and diagnostic staff strive to provide outstanding patient care by following best practices that are proven to improve patient outcomes and reduce future stroke and cardiac events,” said Jamie Davis, vice president of patient care services. “Their commitment to providing rapid diagnosis and treatment has saved lives and will continue to do so in the future.”
The time is right for Maury Regional Hospital to implement Get With The Guidelines – Stroke. The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a large aging population. Each year, about 700,000 people suffer a stroke — 500,000 are first attacks and 200,000 are recurrent. Of stroke survivors, 22 percent of men and 25 percent of women die within a year, and for those aged 65 and older, the percentage is even higher.