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Upstate Comprehensive Stroke Center receives top honors from American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

Upstate Comprehensive Stroke Center receives top honors from American Heart Association/American Stroke Association

“This award is a reflection of the dedication of each member of our team to the highest quality of patient care,” said Julius Gene Latorre, M.D., M.P.H., director, Upstate Comprehensive Stroke Center. “From the moment a stroke patient enters our facility, every individual they encounter is focused on providing the best possible outcome. Time is brain when it comes to a stroke, and timely treatment with access to all the right resources it what sets us apart.”

Hospitals that achieve this award 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 achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures.

To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite, 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. Upstate 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.

Upstate has also met specific scientific guidelines as the first Comprehensive Stroke Center in the region, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.

These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

“We are pleased to recognize Upstate University Hospital for their commitment to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and executive director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of medicine at Harvard Medical School.

“Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce length of stay and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparities in care.”

Get With The Guidelines-Stroke offers quality improvement measures, discharge protocols, standing orders and other measurement tools. Providing hospitals with resources and information that make it easier to follow treatment guidelines can help save lives and ultimately reduce overall healthcare costs by lowering readmission rates for stroke patients.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

Caption: From left, Monica Harris, F.N..P, Neurology, and medical resident Gurneen Kaur, M.D., Neurology, join other staff at the Upstate Comprehensive Stroke Center to ensure stroke patients receive care based on the latest scientific evidence.

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