Baptist South earns award

The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association have both informed Baptist Medical Center South that it will receive the Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) Stroke Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award.

This award recognizes Baptist South’s 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.

The award recognizes work in two areas. For Stroke Silver, Baptist South achieved at least 12 consecutive months of 85 percent or higher adherence to all GWTG indicators. For Plus Performance, Baptist South achieved at least 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 GWTG Stroke Quality Measures during that same period of time, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care. Few hospitals achieve the “Plus Performance” quality measures.

“We are very proud of this achievement, which is a great measure of the level of care provided at Baptist South and the people providing that care,” said Ron Robinson, administrator, Baptist South.

Baptist South met measures including 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.

“Baptist Medical Center South is to be commended for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients,” said Dr. Lee H. Schwamm, chair of the GWTG National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.

Baptist Medical Center Downtown was awarded the American Stroke Association’s GWTG Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award in February of this year.