Presence Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston has received the Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award for successfully implementing the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association quality improvement measures outlined in “Get With The Guidelines.”
Get With The Guidelines—Stroke helps hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.
Presence Saint Francis Hospital earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include aggressive use of medications and risk-reduction therapies aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines–Stroke also helps hospital staff implement prevention measures, such as educating stroke patients to manage their risk factors, become aware of warning signs for stroke, and ensure they take their medications properly.
Presence Saint Francis Hospital makes customized patient education materials available upon discharge, based on a patient’s individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format in either English or Spanish.
“The care our patients receive at Presence Saint Francis Hospital is our number one priority. We are dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and Get With The Guidelines–Stroke helps us achieve that goal,” said Roberta Luskin-Hawk, M.D., president and CEO of Presence Saint Francis Hospital in Evanston and Presence Saint Joseph Hospital in Chicago.
“The Stroke Gold Plus award is a testament of our commitment to ensure that our patients receive the best care consistent with the latest evidence-based clinical guidelines, and we are proud to be among the hospitals recognized.”
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number four 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.