UVA stroke program earns national quality awards

UVA’s stroke program has been honored with two national quality and safety awards from the American Heart Association (AHA).

UVA received both the 2015 Get With The Guidelines^®-Stroke Gold-Plus Achievement Award and made the Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite. The awards indicate that stroke patients at UVA receive care that meets the latest care guidelines from the AHA and American Stroke Association.

“It’s always great to be recognized for all the work we put into quality care,” said Heather Turner, coordinator of UVA’s stroke program. “Every caregiver on the UVA stroke team consistently focuses on maintaining the highest patient safety standards and improving outcomes.”

UVA received the 2015 Gold-Plus Achievement Award for achieving 85 percent or higher compliance with all Get With The Guidelines stroke achievement measures and 75 percent or higher compliance with five or more Get With the Guidelines stroke quality measures for two or more consecutive years.

UVA exceeded compliance levels on measured categories including:

• Time from arrival at hospital to Intravenous Thrombolytic Therapy (clot-busting drug treatment) of 60 minutes or less
• Percent of stroke patients who arrive at UVA within 210 minutes of stroke who are treated within 270 minutes with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA)
• Screening patients for dysphagia (trouble swallowing)
• Stroke education
• Assessing patients for rehabilitation services
• Documentation of a patient’s LDL cholesterol

The Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite designation means UVA meets quality measures for reducing the time between hospital arrival and treatment with tPA, the clot-busting drug that reduces the effects of stroke and lessens the chance of permanent disability.

UVA’s acute stroke team – which features neurologists, neurointensivists, neuroradiologists, neurosurgeons and specially trained stroke care nurses – is on-call at all times.

The team provides a comprehensive treatment options, including minimally invasive clot removal surgery for select patients.

UVA will help raise awareness of brain injury and stroke at the Traumatic Brain Injury and Stroke Awareness Education Fair on Saturday, May 16 from 1:00 to 3:00 p.m. at the nTelos Wireless Pavilion on the Charlottesville Downtown Mall.

The free event will feature informational booths and local resources on TBI and stroke, as well as blood pressure and stroke risk factor screenings and bicycle helmet or t-shirt giveaways.