Physicians Regional Healthcare System receives Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite

5/15/2017

American Heart Association recognizes Physicians Regional Healthcare System’s commitment to quality stroke care

NAPLES, FL, MAY 4, 2017 — Physicians Regional Healthcare System received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s 2017 Get With The Guidelines ® - Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: StrokeSM Honor Roll Elite. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

Hospitals 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 achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality measures to receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

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. Physicians Regional Healthcare System 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 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.

“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. This recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely,” said Aileen Staller, DNP, ARNP, CNRN, Stroke Center Coordinator. “Physicians Regional Healthcare System continues to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients. The recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With TheGuidelines-Stroke further reinforces our team’s hard work.”

Physicians Regional Healthcare System has also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center, providing rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.

“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize Physicians Regional Healthcare System for its commitment to stroke care,” said Paul Heidenreich, M.D., M.S., 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.”

Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Overview puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping hospital care teams ensure the care provided to patients is aligned with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal to save lives and improve recovery time, Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke has impacted more than 3 million patients since 2003.

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, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

Learn more about Physicians Regional Stroke Care

Learn about Stroke Warning Signs

About Physicians Regional Healthcare System

Physicians Regional Healthcare System is comprised of two hospitals (Collier Blvd and Pine Ridge), an affiliated multi-specialty physician group, and a medical staff of nearly 400 physicians. Our campuses include 24-hour emergency rooms, full-service diagnostic departments, and medical office buildings featuring various physician specialties. Satellite clinics are located from Bonita Springs to Marco Island, and many feature walk-in or same day appointments.

Both hospitals have earned the “Get With the Guidelines®-Stroke - Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award” for stroke treatment, and are fully-accredited Chest Pain Centers (Pine Ridge with Primary PCI) from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. The Collier Blvd hospital is also the area’s only MBSAQIP accredited Bariatric Surgery Center.

About Get With The Guidelines®

Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke 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.

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