Samaritan Hospitals Achieve Excellence in Stroke Care July 18, 2024 All five Samaritan hospitals in Benton, Lincoln and Linn counties have earned Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke awards by the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association. The awards recognize a commitment to providing the most appropriate stroke treatment according to nationally recognized guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. The awards are:Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. Samaritan Albany General Hospital – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. Samaritan Lebanon Community Hospital – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. Samaritan North Lincoln Hospital – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. Samaritan Pacific Communities Hospital – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll. “Participation in this program is voluntary, ensuring that our care team follows evidence-based care standards for our stroke patients,” said Sarah Vincent, RN, coordinator with the Samaritan Stroke Program. “This certification utilizes data abstractors to track and analyze each patient’s data during their hospitalization, allowing us to assess the quality of care provided.”To qualify for the awards, hospitals must meet specific goals in comprehensive stroke care and quality measures developed to minimize the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment using the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or Tenecteplase. When given in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, Tenecteplase has shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability. Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite is when a hospital achieves door-to-need time within 60 minutes for at least 85% of applicable patients. Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll aims to ensure patients with type 2 diabetes receive the most current, evidence-based care when hospitalized with a stroke. To bring attention to this critical high-risk population, the American Heart Association has established the Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll recognition opportunity for hospital participants of Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke.“All five Samaritan sites have been awarded these certifications for two years running, which is no easy task,” Vincent said. “It takes commitment from each site to make sure order sets, policies, procedures and staff are up to date with their stroke care. This certification also solidifies our commitment to caring for stroke patients — ensuring our team follows best practices, starting in the emergency department, during admission and upon discharge, so that our patients can have the best outcome.” Samaritan Albany General Hospital has been a Primary Stroke Center since 2019 and Good Samaritan Regional Medical Center has been a Primary Stroke Center since 2012. Watch stroke-related videos on the Samaritan Health Services website or learn more about the Stroke Guidelines.
