Member News

The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association have honored St. Peter’s Hospital, an affiliate of St. Peter’s Health Partners, for providing high-quality care to stroke patients.

The associations recognized St. Peter’s Hospital with a Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award with Target: Stroke Honor Roll.

The award was given in recognition of St. Peter’s Hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

“It is our privilege and our obligation to provide the highest quality and most compassionate care for our patients,” said Virginia Golden, chief executive officer of St. Peter’s Hospital and Albany Memorial Hospital. “This award from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association is a well-deserved recognition of our outstanding cardiac and vascular team. Thank you and congratulations to the physicians, nurses, other providers, and staff whose dedication and expertise resulted in this achievement.”

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the fifth leading cause of death and a major cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, someone dies of a stroke every four minutes, and nearly 800,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

GWTG quality measures are designed to help hospital teams follow the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients.

“A stroke patient loses 1.9 million neurons each minute stroke treatment is delayed,” said Dorothy Urschel, M.S., ACNP-C, MBA, NEA-BC, vice president of operations at Albany Memorial Hospital, who leads the cardiac and vascular service line for St. Peter’s Health Partners. “This recognition further demonstrates our commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments to patients quickly and safely.”

To receive the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, hospitals must achieve 85 percent or higher adherence to all GWTG–Stroke achievement indicators for two or more consecutive 12-month periods and achieve 75 percent or higher compliance with five of eight GWTH–Stroke Quality measures.

To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability. St. Peter’s Hospital 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.

“The American Heart Association and American Stroke Association recognize St. Peter’s Hospital for its commitment to stroke care,” said Paul Heidenreich, M.D., M.S., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and professor of medicine at Stanford University. “Research has shown there are benefits to patients who are treated at hospitals that have adopted the Get With The Guidelines program.”

The GWTG–Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award is the latest recognition of the quality cardiac and vascular care provided by St. Peter’s Hospital:

• For the past three years, St. Peter’s Hospital received a Women’s Choice Award as one of America’s Best Hospitals for Heart Care. 
• In 2016, St. Peter’s Hospital became the first hospital in New York state to receive full accreditation for atrial fibrillation with electrophysiology services from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. 
• In 2016, S. News & World Report rated St. Peter’s Hospital 12th among nearly 250 hospitals in New York state, with 10 procedures and specialties rated as “high performing,” including heart bypass surgery, heart failure, and aortic valve surgery.
• In 2015, the cardiovascular rehabilitation program at St. Peter’s Hospital was certified by the American Association of Cardiovascular and Pulmonary Rehabilitation. 
• In 2015, St. Peter’s Hospital and Samaritan Hospital received national Chest Pain Center Accreditation with PCI from the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. 
• In 2015, the cardiovascular intensive care unit at St. Peter’s Hospital received a silver-level Beacon Award for Excellence from the American Association of Critical-Care Nurses. 

For more information on stroke and heart failure care at St. Peter’s Health Partners, visit: www.sphp.com/cardiac-vascular. For additional information on Get With The Guidelines, visit: www.heart.org/quality.