Stroke Center Earns Award for Meeting Patient Care GuidelinesJuly 20th, 2010
Celebrating achieving the AHA/ASA Silver Award for stroke care are (left to right), front row, Ignatius DiNardo, MD; Kim Billingslea, BSN, RN, Manager, Joint Replacement Center, Neuroscience Unit and Renal Unit, MHE; Paul Monte, MD; Ruth Ann Jones, EdD, MSN, RN, Director, Acute Care; Gary Bigelow, Director, Imaging Services; Christina Ball, RN, Neuroscience Specialist and Coordinator of the Primary Stroke Center; Christopher Mitchell, MSN, RN, Director, Outpatient and Emergency Services; MHE social worker Brittni Conn; Stacy Pietras, Admission Liaison, Requard Center for Acute Rehabilitation; back row, John Botsis, MD; Clay Stamp, Director, Talbot County Emergency Services; Grace Gonzalez, BSN, RN, Manager, Emergency Services, MHE; Brian LeCates, EMS Division Chief, Talbot County Department of Emergency Services; occupational therapist Angela Biggar, OT.
The SHS Primary Stroke Center recently earned a Silver Award from the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association (ASA). The Silver Award recognizes hospitals that demonstrate compliance with the seven Get With The Guidelines® stroke achievement measures for 12 consecutive months.
To obtain an achievement award, a hospital must officially be recognized by AHA/ASA as participating in the Get With The Guidelines stroke program, which is designed to ensure that hospitals are using the most recent scientific guidelines for treating stroke and heart disease. The Get With The Guidelines achievement measures evaluate the timeliness with which people experiencing stroke symptoms are transported to the hospital emergency room and the percentage of patients who are given the appropriate treatment. The guidelines also require that stroke centers provide community education to increase awareness about how to prevent stroke and how to respond when stroke symptoms occur.
SHS achieved Primary Stroke Center designation from the Maryland Institute for Emergency Medical Services Systems in 2007. Neurologist Terry Detrich, MD, is the Medical Director of the Primary Stroke Center located at MHE. Under Dr. Detrich’s direction, a specially trained Brain Attack Team (BAT) is ready to respond 24 hours a day when patients in the hospital and in the Emergency Department are experiencing stroke symptoms. The BAT is composed of an emergency room nurse and physician, a neurologist, a hospitalist, a neuroscience nurse, a laboratory technician and a radiology technologist.
Christina Ball, RN, CNRN, Neuroscience Specialist, coordinates the SHS stroke education and outreach initiatives for staff nurses, patients and their families, and the community. In addition to her nursing duties, she participates in the quality management and process improvement committee that reviews stroke care at MHE.
“As healthcare workers, we always feel good when we are rewarded for taking care of our patients,” Ball told colleagues who attended a reception to celebrate achievement of the AHA/ASA Silver Award. “Our success is much bigger than achieving the seven measures set by the American Stroke Association. We have achieved our goal of coordinating care throughout the hospital and with our EMS partners in the community. This means that we are saving lives by responding quickly and efficiently to people when they are experiencing stroke symptoms.”
Addressing his colleagues, Dr. Detrich said, “Getting this award is a team effort. Meeting the stroke care guidelines takes extra effort on the part of our physicians in the Emergency Department, the hospitalists and the intensivists. Our dedicated nurses have the skills and experience needed to care for stroke patients. Our success also depends on around-the-clock cooperation of our staff in the lab, radiology, pharmacy and physical rehabilitation.”
Dr. Detrich commended Christina Ball for the community education she provides. “The most important thing Christina tells people is to call 911,” Dr. Detrich said. “The paramedics who respond to those 911 calls can assess a person’s symptoms, and, because our local EMS personnel are so well trained and dedicated, people begin receiving the care they need even before they reach the hospital.”
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