Palomar Medical Center Poway receives stroke care award

POWAY – Palomar Medical Center Poway has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines Target: Stroke Honor Roll Bronze 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.

Palomar Medical Center Poway 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.

“We are dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative,” Sheila Brown, RN and chief operations officer of Palomar Health, said.

Palomar Medical Center Poway is also recognized on the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll. To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll, 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.

“We are pleased to recognize Palomar Medical Center Poway for their commitment to stroke care,” Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and executive vice chair of neurology and director of acute stroke services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, said. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

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 and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

For more information, visit http://www.PalomarHealth.org.

Submitted by Palomar Health.