The Jennersville Regional Hospital was recently recognized for its success in providing quality care to stroke patients by meeting the guidelines necessary to qualify for the Gold Quality Achievement Award. These guidelines are established by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association based on the research and the latest scientific evidence on the treatment of strokes.

Hospital CEO Andy Guz said that this is the first time that Jennersville Regional earned the Gold Quality Achievement Award. The hospital had previously received a Silver Quality Achievement Award, but qualified for the higher honor after scoring 85 percent or higher on adherence to all the guidelines for two consecutive twelve-month periods.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and this award demonstrates our commitment to ensuring patients receive care based on nationally respected clinical guidelines,” Guz explained.

The guidelines are designed to help hospital teams provide care that allows for speedy recoveries and reduces death and disability for stroke patients. The recommended care includes everything from the aggressive use of medications, such as clot-busting and anti-clotting drugs, blood thinners, and cholesterol-reducing drugs to smoking cessation counseling.

According to the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, strokes are the fifth-leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds. Someone dies of stroke every four minutes. And approximately 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

In a statement, Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., the national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and the executive director of interventional cardiovascular programs and a Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School, explained the importance of having a hospital that follows the established guidelines. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce the length of stay and the 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparities in care,” he said.

For health care providers like hospitals, the guidelines offer quality-improvement measures, discharge protocols, standing orders and other measurement tools. By providing hospitals with these resources and information, it makes it easier for them to provide better treatments that can save lives and ultimately reduce overall health care costs by lowering readmission rates for stroke patients. Patients also learn about how to manage their risk factors and how to recognize warning signs of a stroke.