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MIAMI, FL – The Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award has been presented to Jackson Memorial Hospital for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for the treatment of stroke patients. Jackson North Medical Center was awarded with the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Quality Achievement Award.
The clinical protocols established by Get With The Guidelines Stroke helps hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Jackson Memorial and Jackson North earned the awards 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 aggressive use of medications and risk-reduction therapies aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
Jackson Memorial also received the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll for meeting stroke quality measures that reduce the time between hospital arrival and treatment with the clot-buster tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. People who suffer a stroke and receive the drug within three hours of the onset of symptoms may recover quicker and are less likely to suffer severe disability.
“Jackson is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and its proven successes are recognized year-after-year by The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association,” said Carlos A. Migoya, Jackson Health System president and CEO. “With these awards, Jackson demonstrates its commitment to ensuring that all of our stroke patients receive care based on internationally-respected clinical guidelines.”
“We are working to raise the quality of care for stroke victims across South Florida with the outstanding multidisciplinary team combining Jackson Memorial Hospital and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine,” said Ralph L. Sacco, M.D., M.S., FAHA, FAAN, chief of neurology at Jackson Memorial Hospital and the University of Miami Miller School of Medicine, and a former president of the American Heart Association. “This Gold-Plus Award from the AHA is another one of the many recognition awards that we have received for the care that we provide at our Comprehensive Stroke Center.”
Get With The Guidelines Stroke also helps Jackson Memorial’s staff implement prevention measures, which include educating stroke patients to manage their risk factors and to be aware of warning signs for stroke, and ensuring that when prescribed patients take their medications properly. Hospitals can make customized patient education materials available upon discharge, based on the patients’ individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format in either English or Spanish.
“We are pleased to recognize Jackson Memorial Hospital for their commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and executive director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce patients’ lengths of stay and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparity gaps in care.”
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number four cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
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Jackson Memorial Hospital
Opened in 1918, Jackson Memorial Hospital is an accredited, tax-assisted, tertiary teaching hospital with 1,558 licensed beds. In association with the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine and the University of Miami Leonard M. Miller School of Medicine and its faculty, Jackson Memorial provides a wide range of patient services and educational programs, a clinical setting for research activities, and a number of health-related community services. It is a regional referral center and a magnet for medical research and innovation. Jackson Memorial’s world-renown treatment facilities include the Ryder Trauma Center, UM/JM Burn Center, Holtz Children’s Hospital, Jackson Rehabilitation Hospital and the Miami Transplant Institute. Based on the number of admissions to a single facility, Jackson Memorial is one of the nation’s busiest hospitals.
Jackson North Medical Center
Jackson North Medical Center is a 382-bed, acute-care, community hospital serving the residents of North Miami-Dade County. It is also an academic affiliate of the Florida International University Herbert Wertheim College of Medicine. Jackson North’s services include 24-hour adult and pediatric emergency care, cardiac care, maternity care, orthopedics, surgery, inpatient and outpatient rehabilitation, and wound care including hyperbaric chamber treatment/therapy. Jackson North is a joint commission certified advanced primary stroke center and a member of the Dade County STEMI Network for interventional cardiology. It is also home to specialized centers such as the Leon and Serena Simkins Thyroid and Neuroendocrine Tumor Clinic, Center for Geriatric Psychiatry, Comprehensive Cancer Program, Endovascular Institute, Uterine Fibroid Treatment Center, Pain Center, Women’s Health Program, Special care Unit for medically complex patients, and Bariatric Center of Excellence. Jackson North is also one of only three hospitals in Florida to earn the 2012 U.S. Environmental Protection Agency’s (EPA’s) ENERGY STAR certification for energy efficiency.
About Get With The Guidelines
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines. Developed with the goal of saving lives and hastening recovery, Get With The Guidelines has touched the lives of more than 4 million patients since 2001. For more information, visit heart.org/quality or heart.org/myhealthcare.
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