Award demonstrates San Ramon Regional Medical Center’s commitment to quality care for stroke patients
San Ramon Regional Medical Center has received the 2013 Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The award recognizes San Ramon Regional’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted guidelines.
Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke helps San Ramon Regional Medical Center’s staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes to improve patient care and outcomes. The program provides hospitals with a web-based patient management tool, best practice discharge protocols and standing orders, along with a robust registry and real-time benchmarking capabilities to track performance.
The quick and efficient use of guideline procedures can improve the quality of care for stroke patients and may reduce disability and save lives.
“Recent studies show that patients treated in hospitals participating in the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program receive a higher quality of care and may experience better outcomes,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., chair of the Get With The Guidelines® National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass. “San Ramon Regional Medical Center’s team is to be commended for their commitment to improving the care of their patients.”
Following Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke treatment guidelines, patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies including the use of medications such as tPA, antithrombotics and anticoagulation therapy, along with cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation counseling. These are all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients. Hospitals must adhere to these measures at a set level for a designated period of time to be eligible for the achievement awards.
“San Ramon Regional Medical Center is dedicated to making our care for stroke patients among the best in the country. The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke program helps us to accomplish this goal,” said Gary Sloan, CEO of the San Ramon hospital. “This recognition demonstrates that we are on the right track and we’re very proud of our team.”
“We want to acknowledge the hard work and teamwork of our physicians and employees in earning this award, including Vicki Wynn, NVRN-BC, Stroke Program coordinator. Special appreciation goes to Contra Costa County Health Services, and the San Ramon Valley Fire Protection District staff who serve as first responders through the Emergency Medical Services,” Sloan adds.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.
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About San Ramon Regional Medical Center:
San Ramon Regional Medical Center is a 123-bed, acute-care hospital with 24-hour emergency care, inpatient and outpatient services. After undergoing an on‐site evaluation and demonstrating compliance with nationally developed standards for stroke care, San Ramon Regional has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™ for certification as a Primary Stroke Center, serving as a Stroke Receiving Hospital for Contra Costa County. Other hospital programs include: Blood Conservation, Breast Center, Cardiac Care, Cancer Care, Diabetes & Nutrition Services, Birthing Center, Orthopedics, Pediatrics, Spine & Joint Treatment, Outpatient Therapy Services.
About Get With The Guidelines
Get With The Guidelines® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that empowers healthcare teams to save lives and reduce healthcare costs by helping hospitals follow evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. For more information, visit heart.org/quality.
Sandra Sanfilippo Ryan
Marketing Manager
San Ramon Regional Medical Center
6001 Norris Canyon Road
San Ramon, CA 94583
925.275.8365
925.275.6165-fax