Baptist Health Hospitals Receive Recognition for Stroke Programs

Jacksonville, Florida, February 19, 2009 -- Baptist Health hospitals recently received recognition from two national organizations for the high standard of care provided in diagnosing and treating stroke symptoms.

Baptist Medical Center Downtown was awarded the American Stroke Association's Get With The Guidelines^SM-Stroke (GWTG-Stroke) Silver Performance Achievement Award at the association's International Stroke Conference 2009. The award recognizes the hospital's commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to evidence-based guidelines.

"In treating stroke, time to treatment is a key factor in predicting patient outcomes," says neurologist Sean Orr, MD, medical director of the Stroke Center at Baptist Medical Center Downtown. "Receiving the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Performance Achievement Award shows that Baptist Downtown is taking action to treat its stroke patients quickly and effectively."

Through GWTG-Stroke, Baptist Medical Center Downtown is tracking comprehensive efforts to rapidly diagnose and treat stroke patients admitted to the emergency department. This includes being equipped to provide brain imaging scans, having neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.

Baptist Downtown consistently complied for at least one year with the requirements including aggressive use of medications such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol-reducing drugs, and smoking cessation. This 12-month evaluation period reflects an ongoing effort of the hospital to continually maintain 85 percent compliance required for an award.

"Articles published in leading scientific journals have increasingly documented the effectiveness of Get With The Guidelines-Stroke," says Dr. Orr. "The time is right for Baptist Medical Center to continue its focus on providing high-quality, science-based stroke care. 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."

Baptist Medical Center Downtown and Baptist Medical Center South also were recertified in January as Primary Stroke Centers by The Joint Commission. The Baptist Stroke Centers once again received The Joint Commission's Gold Seal of Approval™ for demonstrating that they apply evidence-based protocols shown to improve patient outcomes. By law, Florida's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) are directed to transport patients presenting with acute stroke symptoms to a Primary Stroke Center.

First certified by The Joint Commission in January 2007, the Baptist Stroke Centers were developed to meet the growing need in Northeast Florida for diagnosis and treatment of patients at risk for, or who have already experienced, a stroke.

Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States. According to the American Stroke Association, approximately 795,000 people each year experience a new or recurrent stroke.