Jordan Hospital has received the Get with the Guidelines Stroke Gold Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The award marks the fifth year in a row that Jordan Hospital has been recognized for commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted guidelines. To receive the award, Jordan Hospital achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get with the Guidelines-Stroke Performance Achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month intervals and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get with the Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care. These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients. With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the American Heart Associations Get with the Guidelines Stroke Gold Performance Achievement Award demonstrates Jordan Hospitals commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the region and the United States for providing aggressive, proven stroke care, Jane Stiles, R.N., emergency medical services and … Continue reading →

A University of Canterbury (UC) student has won a summer scholarship to help a project that is developing treatment aimed at improving memory in stroke patients. Student Anthony Bracegirdle, under the supervision of computer science and software engineering professor Tanja Mitrovic, is working on a Marsden funded project which studies computer-based cognitive rehabilitation for patients who have suffered strokes. We have developed a treatment which aims to improve prospective memory in stroke patients, Professor Mitrovic says. Our preliminary studies show that our treatment works with healthy, older people. We are now starting a study with stroke patients. One part of that study is a virtual reality environment for stroke patients to practise on their cognitive skills. The UC research team, which received $830,000 of Marsden funds to help stroke survivors, includes Professor Mitrovic, Dr Moffat Mathews, research fellow Jay Holland, psychologists Dr Audrey McKinley (Monash) and Professor Stellan Ohlsson (University of Illinois at Chicago). The UC summer scholarship project will explore alternative interaction devices. Bracegirdle will compare different devices to see which would be most helpful for stroke survivors. The project will give Bracegirdle experience in developing computer applications for cognitive training. While there is a lot of research into … Continue reading →

Raritan Bay Medical Center has received the Get With The Guidelines Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association.The award recognizes Raritan Bay Medical Centers (RBMC) commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted guidelines. This marks the fourth year that RBMC has been recognized with a quality achievement award. Get With The Guidelines Stroke helps RBMCs 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 Associations 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 … Continue reading →

E-mail this page to a friend! Health & Medicine for Senior Citizens Deaths from Stroke Decline Dramatically in U.S. with Better Prevention, Treatment Stroke deaths fell 23% in 10 years; One of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries Dec. 5, 2013 Stroke deaths in the United States have declined dramatically in recent decades due to improved treatment and prevention, according to a scientific statement published in the American Heart Association journal Stroke. According to AHA statistics, the relative rate of stroke deaths fell by 37 percent and the actual number of stroke deaths declined by 23 percent between 1999 and 2009. During the same time, the cardiovascular disease death rate declined by 33 percent. The decline in stroke deaths is one of the greatest public health achievements of the 20th and 21st centuries, said Daniel T. Lackland, Dr. P.H., chair of the statement writing committee and professor of epidemiology at the Medical University of South Carolina, in Charleston, S.C. The decline is real, not a statistical fluke or the result of more people dying of lung disease, the third leading cause of death. The American Stroke Association commissioned this paper to discuss the reasons that … Continue reading →