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 U.S. 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.
Jefferson Health’s three New Jersey Hospitals have each received the AHA/ASA’s Get With the Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus quality achievement award for their commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.
Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital, Jefferson Stratford Hospital and Jefferson Washington Township Hospital each earned the Gold Plus award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients. Before hospital discharge, patients should also receive education and have a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
“The Get With the Guidelines-Stroke initiative has improved the quality of care and outcomes for our stroke patients, providing us the most up-to-date, research-based treatment guidelines,” Cheryl Griffith, Jefferson Health – N.J. Stroke Program director, said. “Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times.”
Jefferson Cherry Hill Hospital and Jefferson Washington Township Hospital also received the associations’ Target: Stroke Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, these hospitals met 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.
Additionally, all three New Jersey hospitals — Cherry Hill, Stratford and Washington Township — received the associations’ Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, these hospitals met quality measures developed with more than 90% of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”
