Sierra Vista Earns Stroke Care Quality Achievement Award
Jun 9, 2016
SAN LUIS OBISPO, Calif. – Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® - Stroke Gold Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines on the latest scientific evidence.
To receive the Gold Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85-percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines – Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods.
These quality measures are designed to help hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speedy recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. The 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.
“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed. This recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatment to patients quickly and safely,” said Kim Brown Sims, Chief Nursing Officer at Sierra Vista Regional Medical Center. “Sierra Vista continues to strive for excellence in the acute treatment of stroke patients. The recognition from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association Get With The Guidelines – Stroke further reinforces our team’s hard work.”
Sierra Vista has also met specific scientific guidelines as a primary stroke center as identified by The Joint Commission, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.
Sierra Vista offers a monthly stroke support group for stroke survivors and caregivers. The group meets the third Monday of each month from 1pm-2pm in the Sierra Vista Auditorium. Newcomers are welcome.
According to the American Heart Association/American Strokes Association, stroke is the number five 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.
