MedStar St. Mary’s Earns Award for Stroke Care

Leonardtown, MD — MedStar St. Mary’s Hospital received the “Get With The Guidelines^® – Stroke Gold – Plus Quality Achievement Award” for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for the treatment of stroke patients.

“Get With The Guidelines^® – Stroke” helps hospital teams provide the most up-to-date, research-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. MedStar St. Mary’s earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include aggressive use of medications and risk-reduction therapies aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“MedStar St. Mary’s is dedicated to improving the quality of stroke care and The American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines^®– Stroke program helps us achieve that goal,” said Hospital Vice President Joan Gelrud. “With this award, our hospital demonstrates our commitment to ensure that our patients receive care based on internationally-respected clinical guidelines.”

“We are pleased to recognize MedStar St. Mary’s for their commitment and dedication to stroke care,” said Deepak L. Bhatt, M.D., M.P.H., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines steering committee and Executive Director of Interventional Cardiovascular Programs at Brigham and Women’s Hospital and Professor of Medicine at Harvard Medical School. “Studies have shown that hospitals that consistently follow Get With The Guidelines quality improvement measures can reduce patients’ length of stays and 30-day readmission rates and reduce disparity gaps in care.”

Get With the Guidelines^®– Stroke program also helps MedStar St. Mary’s staff implement prevention measures, which include educating stroke patients to manage their risk factors and to be aware of warning signs for stroke, and ensuring they take their medications properly. Hospitals can make customized patient education materials available upon discharge, based on the patients’ individual risk profiles. The take-away materials are written in an easy-to-understand format in either English or Spanish.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number four cause of death and a leading cause of adult 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.

About MedStar St. Mary’s
Nestled in the waterside community of Leonardtown, Maryland, Medstar St. Mary’s Hospital is a full-service hospital, delivering state-of-the-art emergency, acute inpatient and outpatient care. With innovative technology and a dedication to excellence, our staff is committed to providing you and your family quality medical care with a compassionate touch.

MedStar St. Mary’s is located at 25500 Point Lookout Road, Leonardtown, MD 20650 and can be reached at 301-475-8981 or www.medstarhealth.org.