Award Recognizes ThedaCare’s Commitment to Quality Stroke Care
ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah has been recognized for its commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
To receive the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight quality measures.
The Get With The Guidelines 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. They focus on appropriate use of guideline-based care for stroke patients, including aggressive use of medications such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners and cholesterol-reducing drugs, preventive action for deep vein thrombosis and smoking cessation counseling
“Our mission at the ThedaCare Stroke Center is provide the best quality care to our stroke patients,” said Kristin Randall, manager of the stroke center. “Get with the Guidelines is a program that provides us with data to monitor how we are doing and allows us to compare ourselves to other healthcare organizations and identify areas of opportunity for improvement. Receiving the Gold Plus Award again this year is an honor and shows the dedication that our physicians and staff have in providing the best care to our stroke patients throughout our community.”
ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah is a certified Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission for the Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO). This designation means a hospital meets specific criteria for managing and treating stroke, including 24-hour acute stroke teams made up of neurologists, neuro-interventionalists and specially trained nurses, an integrated emergency response system, a dedicated stroke unit, neuro-services including imaging and laboratory services, written care protocols and ongoing quality improvement and education programs.
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.
“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize ThedaCare Regional Medical Center-Neenah 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® 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 than 100 years, ThedaCare™ has been committed to finding a better way to deliver serious and complex healthcare to patients throughout Northeast Wisconsin. The organization serves over 200,000 patients annually and employs more than 7,000 healthcare professionals throughout the region. ThedaCare has seven hospitals located in Appleton, Neenah, Berlin, Waupaca, Shawano, New London and Wild Rose as well as 34 clinics in nine counties. ThedaCare is the first in Wisconsin to be a Mayo Clinic Care Network Member, giving our specialists the ability to consult with Mayo Clinic experts on a patient’s care. ThedaCare is a non-profit healthcare organization with a level II trauma center, comprehensive cancer treatment, stroke and cardiac programs as well as a foundation dedicated to community service. ThedaCare Regional Cancer Center in Appleton opened in February. For more information, visit www.thedacare.org or follow ThedaCare on Facebook and Twitter.
