Bayhealth earns highest national stroke award honors

Bayhealth Hospital, Kent Campus and Bayhealth Hospital, Sussex Campus have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

This is the second consecutive year that both hospitals have been recognized at the highest level of this national awards program. This achievement demonstrates the strong commitment at Bayhealth to ensuring that stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

The two hospitals earned these awards by meeting specific quality measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. One measure is evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date guidelines to speed recovery and reduce death and disability for stroke patients. Another quality measure demonstrated by Bayhealth was providing education to patients before discharge to help them manage their health, arranging transitions of care and getting follow-up visits scheduled.

“The tools and resources provided by the Get With The Guidelines - Stroke initiative help us track and measure our continued success as we follow proven guidelines in treating stroke. It’s an honor to receive this award, and more importantly, we are proud of our team’s dedication to exceptional care that improves outcomes for our stroke patients,” said Dr. Sumeet Multani, Bayhealth interventional neurologist and medical director of neurology.

Bayhealth Kent and Sussex campuses also received the association’s Target: Stroke Elite Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. Both hospitals are designated as Primary Stroke Centers, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the No. 5 cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. 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.

Visit Bayhealth.org/Neurosciences to learn more about stroke care.