Charleston, SC (July 2, 2019) – Trident Medical Center has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. The hospital is also recognized by the Joint Commission as an Advanced Primary Stroke Center. In the last three years Trident Medical Center has treated more than 2,500 stroke patients.
Neurosurgeon and stroke specialist Douglas Stofko, DO said, “The award is recognition of the daily commitment to excellence of our physician, nursing and clinical teams. For our patients and their families the award means we are maintaining a high level of consistency in meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients.”
These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care transition interventions.
Trident Medical Center’s Medical Director of Emergency Services Scott Hayes, MD, said, “We are dedicated to improving the quality of care for our stroke patients by implementing the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines -Stroke initiative. The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”
Trident Medical Center additionally received the association’s Target: Stroke Elite Plus 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.
Trident Medical Center neurologist Kathleen Wiese, DO, explains, “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get With The Guidelines quality improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”
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.
About Trident Health
For more than 40 years staff and physicians at Trident Health have provided acute healthcare services to families in South Carolina’s Lowcountry. Services are provided through its two hospitals, Trident Medical Center and Summerville Medical Center; two freestanding emergency departments, Moncks Corner Medical Center and Centre Pointe Emergency; and two urgent care centers, CareNow Urgent Care Goose Creek and CareNow Urgent Care North Charleston. Both hospitals have received top ranking as Joint Commission Top Hospitals for Quality Performance and are Joint Commission Certified for Advanced Heart Failure and Advanced Primary Stroke Centers. Trident Health is one of the South Carolina Lowcountry’s largest employers with more than 2,500 employees and has a medical staff of nearly 500 physicians. In 2018 it provided $143.3 million in uncompensated care and paid $47.9 million in local, state and federal taxes. To learn more about how Trident Health is growing to meet the needs of our growing region and how to join our team go to Trident Health System.