OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.
OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center 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 measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
“This award demonstrates our commitment to ensuring patients receive care based on nationally-respected clinical guidelines,” said OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center President Paula Carynski. “Saint Anthony Medical Center is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke helps us achieve that goal.”
OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center also received the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Award, which to qualify for this recognition, 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.
OSF HealthCare Saint Anthony Medical Center additionally received the Association’s Target: Type II Diabetes Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed with more than 90 % of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”
OSF HealthCare was the first hospital in Northwest Illinois to become a designated Comprehensive Stroke Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.