North Austin Medical Center Stroke Program Receives the American Stroke Association Gold Performance Achievement Award

9/2/2009 12:00:00 AM

St. David’s North Austin Medical Center has been awarded the American Stroke Association’s Get With the GuidelinesSM -Stroke Gold Performance Achievement Award.

North Austin Medical Center has been awarded the American Stroke Association’s Get With the GuidelinesSM -Stroke Gold Performance Achievement Award. The Get with the GuidelinesSM program is a hospital-based quality improvement program. The award recognizes hospitals’ commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations

Get With the GuidelinesSM -Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare professionals’ guidance. Studies demonstrate that patients who are taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital reduce their risk of a second heart attack or stroke. Through Get With the GuidelinesSM -Stroke, customized patient education materials are made available at the point of discharge, based on patients’ individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format and are available in English and Spanish.

According to the American Stroke Association, each year approximately 700,000 people suffer a stroke — 500,000 are first attacks and 200,000 are recurrent. Of stroke survivors, 21 percent of men and 24 percent of women die within a year, and for those aged 65 and older, the percentage is even higher.