UPMC Mercy Receives Quality Award from American Heart Association
PITTSBURGH, July 23, 2013 – The
American Heart Association awarded the
UPMC Stroke Institute at
UPMC Mercy the 2014 Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes UPMC Mercy’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care by ensuring stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted guidelines. UPMC hospitals have won the award multiple times since 2008.
“UPMC Mercy has consistently met the bar for quality care with our stroke population under the leadership of
Maxim Hammer, M.D., director of our stroke program,” says Kathleen Seiler, UPMC Mercy Stroke Institute program coordinator. “The efforts of all of the departments, nurses, physicians, nurse educators and radiology nurses and technicians have made this award possible.”
Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke provides hospitals with a web-based patient management tool, best practice discharge protocols and standing orders, along with a registry and real-time benchmarking capabilities to track performance. The program helps UPMC staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes to improve patient care and outcomes. The quick and efficient use of guideline procedures can improve the quality of care for stroke patients and may reduce disability and save lives.
Following Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke treatment guidelines, patients begin aggressive risk-reduction therapies, including the use of medications such as tPA, antithrombotics and anticoagulation therapy to prevent blood clots, along with cholesterol-reducing drugs and smoking cessation counseling. These therapies are aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients. Hospitals must adhere to these measures for a designated period to be eligible for the achievement awards.