McLeod Health honored with awards

McLeod Health Seacoast and McLeod Health Loris have received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Award as well as the Get With The Guidelines®- Stroke Bronze. The Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Award recognizes each hospitals commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

McLeod Health Seacoast and McLeod Health Loris earned the award by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. 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

“McLeod Health Seacoast and McLeod Health Loris 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,” said Kelvin Oakley, Stroke Coordinator for McLeod Health Loris and McLeod Health Seacoast. “The tools and resources provided help us track and measure our success in meeting evidenced-based clinical guidelines developed to improve patient outcomes.”

Additionally, McLeod Health Seacoast and McLeod Health Loris also received the Association’s Type 2 Honor Roll award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must achieve higher than 90 percent compliance over 12 consecutive months for quality measure in the “Overall Diabetes Cardiovascular Initiative Composite Score.”

McLeod Health Seacoast and McLeod Health Loris are designated Acute Stroke Ready Hospitals, an acknowledgment to the community that both hospitals have the resources and commitment to provide the best possible stroke care. McLeod Health had the first hospitals in the state of South Carolina to become Acute Stroke Ready by DNV.

“We are pleased to recognize McLeod Health Loris and McLeod Health Seacoast for their commitment to stroke care,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., national chairperson of the Quality Oversight Committee and Executive Vice Chair of Neurology, Director of Acute Stroke Services, Massachusetts General Hospital, Boston, Massachusetts. “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.