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NSMC Salem Hospital receives Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award
5/24/2012

North Shore Medical Center (NSMC) Salem Hospital has received the American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke (GWTG–­Stroke) Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award. NSMC Union also holds a Gold Plus status.

The award recognizes NSMC’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. Learn more about our Stroke Program.

To receive the award, NSMC Salem Hospital achieved 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With the Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators 24 months. These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, prevention of blood clots in deep veins, like the leg, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.

“With a stroke, time is lost, and the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award demonstrates NSMC Salem Hospital’s commitment to being one of the top hospitals in the country for providing aggressive, proven stroke care,” Wendy Way Cohen, the stroke program coordinator at NSMC. “We will continue to provide care that has been proven to quickly and effectively treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols. The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a large aging population.”

“NSMC Salem Hospital is to be commended for its commitment to implementing standards of care and protocols for treating stroke patients,” said Lee H Schwamm, M.D., chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital. “The full implementation of acute care and secondary prevention recommendations and guidelines is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of stroke patients.”

Get With The Guidelines-Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare professionals’ guidance. Studies demonstrate that patients who are taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital reduce their risk of a second heart attack or stroke.

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According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term 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 Get With The Guidelines

Get With the Guidelines ® is the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s hospital-based quality improvement program that empowers healthcare teams to save lives and reduce healthcare costs by helping hospitals follow evidence-based guidelines and recommendations. For more information, visit heart.org/quality.

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NSMC (North Shore Medical Center) is a multi-site health system headquartered in Salem, Mass., which includes NSMC Salem Hospital, NSMC Union Hospital in Lynn, MassGeneral for Children at North Shore Medical Center, NSMC Heart Center, NSMC Women’s Center and the physician network known as North Shore Physicians Group. NSMC and Massachusetts General Hospital together provide care at the Mass General/North Shore Center for Outpatient Care and the Mass General/North Shore Cancer Center in Danvers. NSMC is a member of Partners HealthCare, which was founded by Massachusetts General Hospital and Brigham and Women’s Hospital.  #northshoremed