AnMed has won five quality achievement awards from the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program, headlined by the Stroke Gold Award, the Heart Failure Gold Award and the Resuscitation Gold Award.
The Get With The Guidelines - Stroke Gold Award was bestowed for commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines. That ultimately leads to more lives saved and less disability.
This marks the eighth time that AnMed has won the award for stroke care.
Chuck Horton, nurse manager of AnMed’s 7 North Stroke Unit for 25 years, pointed out that AnMed was the second hospital in the state to become a primary stroke center.
He said it’s exciting to receive awards that validate AnMed’s continuing effort to provide exceptional care.
AnMed also received the American Heart Association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll Award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet specific criteria that reduce the time between an eligible patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with thrombolytic therapy.
Stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of disability in the U.S. It occurs when a blood vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs, so brain cells die.
Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and accelerating recovery times.
Get With The Guidelines - Heart Failure Gold Award
The Get With The Guidelines - Heart Failure Gold Award was bestowed to AnMed for commitment to improving outcomes for patients with heart failure, meaning reduced readmissions and more healthy days at home. That honor has come 10 times.
AnMed also won the Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll Award for ensuring patients with Type 2 diabetes, who might be at higher risk for complications, receive the most up-to-date, evidence-based care when hospitalized due to heart disease or stroke.
Heart failure affects about 6 million U.S. adults, and that number that is expected to increase to more than 8 million by 2030. It is a condition where the heart has a hard time pumping blood and oxygen throughout the body.
While there’s no cure for it, patients can live a quality life by working with their health care team to create and stick with a plan that may include medication, symptom monitoring and lifestyle changes.
Get With The Guidelines - Resuscitation Gold Award
The Get With The Guidelines - Resuscitation Gold Award was bestowed to AnMed by the American Heart Association for commitment to appropriate treatment of in-hospital cardiac arrest, ultimately helping to improve survival rates. This marks the second consecutive year AnMed has won that award.
Nearly 300,000 people experience an in-hospital cardiac arrest annually in the U.S., research shows. Survival largely depends on timely medical-emergency-team response and effective CPR.
The Get With The Guidelines program puts the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest research and evidence-based guidelines.
Dr. Steven Messe, volunteer chairperson of the American Heart Association Stroke System of Care Advisory Group and professor of neurology and director of fellowships of neurology at the Hospital of the University of Pennsylvania, and Dr. Sabra Lewsey, chair of the American Heart Association Heart Failure System of Care Advisory Group and assistant professor of medicine at the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, were among those who praised AnMed for the efforts of its team.
"Participation in Get With The Guidelines is associated with improved patient outcomes, fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates – a win for health care systems, families and communities," Messe said.