 OakBend receives Silver Certification from American Heart Association
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Cindy Reaves
Marketing Coordinator
(281) 341-3023
creaves@obmc.org
OakBend Medical Center receives American Stroke Association’s
Get With The Guidelines Silver Performance Achievement Award
RICHMOND,
TX –July 18, 2008 – As reported in this week’s U.S. News and World
Report, OakBend Medical Center has received the American Stroke
Association’s Get WithThe GuidelinesSM–Stroke (GWTG–Stroke)
Silver Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes OakBend’s
commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care
by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to
nationally accepted standards and recommendations.
“With a stroke,
time lost is brain lost, and the GWTG–Stroke Silver Performance
Achievement Award addresses the important element of time,” said Sue
McCarty, Vice President & Chief Nursing Officer. OakBend has
developed a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of
stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. This includes
always being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having
neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using
clot-busting medications when appropriate.
To receive the
GWTG-Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award, OakBend consistently
complied for at least one year with the requirements in the GWTG–Stroke
program. These include aggressive use of medications like tPA,
antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol
reducing drugs, and smoking cessation.
“The American Stroke
Association commends OakBend Medical Center for its success in
implementing standards of care and protocols,” said Lee H. Schwamm,
M.D., national Get With the Guidelines Steering Committee Member and
director of acute stroke services at Massachusetts General Hospital in
Boston. “The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention
recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives
and improving outcomes of stroke patients.”
GWTG–Stroke uses the
“teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke,
when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare
professionals’ guidance. Studies demonstrate that patients who are
taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital
reduce their risk of a second heart attack or stroke. Through
GWTG–Stroke, customized patient education materials are made available
at the point of discharge, based on patients’ individual risk profiles.
The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format and
are available in English and Spanish. In addition, the GWTG Patient
Management Tool provides access to up-to-date cardiovascular and stroke
science at the point of care.
“OakBend has already achieved Bronze
Certification as well as disease specific accreditation by the Joint
Commission for Stroke and continues to focus on improving the quality
of stroke care. The number of stroke patients eligible for treatment
is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke
incidence and a large aging population,” said McCarty.
According
to the American Stroke Association, each year approximately 700,000
people suffer a stroke — 500,000 are first attacks and 200,000 are
recurrent. Of stroke survivors, 21 percent of men and 24 percent of
women die within a year, and for those aged 65 and older, the
percentage is even higher.
OakBend Medical Center is the only
Stroke Center in Fort Bend County certified by both the Joint
Commission (having received the Gold Seal from Primary Stroke Care) and
the American Heart Association and the hospital is on track to receive
the Gold Seal from the American Heart Association within a matter of
months.