Edward Hospital in Naperville has received three American Heart Association (AHA) Achievement Awards for implementing quality improvement measures that ensure cardiovascular patients receive efficient and coordinated care, ultimately leading to more lives saved, shorter recovery times and fewer returns to the hospital.
The AHA’s Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) program helps reduce barriers to prompt treatment for cardiovascular events, such as ischemic strokes. As a participant in GWTG, Edward Hospital earned the awards by demonstrating a commitment to providing quality care for stroke patients, following treatment guidelines and providing education to patients to help them manage their health and rehabilitation at home.
This year, Edward Hospital received the following Achievement Awards:
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GWTG Stroke Award (AHA) Target Stroke Elite Honor Roll
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GWTG Stroke Award (AHA) Gold Plus
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GWTG Stroke Award (AHA) Target Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
To earn the Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll award, Edward had to meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with a clot-busting treatment, such as tissue plasminogen activator (tPA).
To earn the Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award, Edward had to meet quality measures with more than 90% of compliance for 12 consecutive months for the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.” This award demonstrates that patients with type 2 diabetes, who are hospitalized with stroke at Edward Hospital, receive evidence-based care.
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. Early stroke detection and treatment are key to improving survival, minimizing disability and speeding recovery times.
GWTG was developed to assist healthcare professionals in providing the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines for treating stroke patients. Research shows that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the GWTG quality improvement initiative often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.
Edward Hospital is also certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center from DNV GL Healthcare. For more information about Edward-Elmhurst Health’s stroke and vascular services, visit
www.eehealth.org/services/neuro. To determine if a person is at risk for stroke, Edward-Elmhurst offers an online StrokeAware test at
www.eehealth.org/health-aware.