ST. LOUIS – Barnes-Jewish Hospital was recently honored by the American Heart Association (AHA) with two prestigious awards: the 2012-2013  “Mission: Lifeline Gold Award” and the “Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke” Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award.

The “Mission: Lifeline Gold Award” recognizes Barnes-Jewish and its physician partners at Washington University School of Medicine for quick and effective treatment of the deadliest type of heart attack, a STEMI (ST Elevation Acute Myocardial Infarction). Barnes-Jewish is the only hospital in Missouri honored with the Gold-level award.

“Since January 2011, every patient who has come directly to us for STEMI has been treated in the recommended time frame,” says Nelda Martin, APRN, cardiology clinical nurse specialist at the Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Heart & Vascular Center. “Fewer than 10 percent of hospitals nationwide have maintained that level of efficiency.”

Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s average “door-to-balloon” time for emergency angioplasty is 60 minutes, significantly lower than the national goal of 90 minutes.

Martin says the hospital’s collaboration with St. Louis emergency medical services (EMS) has helped improve response times for STEMI patients. “By transmitting EKG results directly from the EMS team in the field, we are better prepared to provide specialized treatment to patients as soon as they come to our door,” she says.

Barnes-Jewish is among a select group of hospitals nationwide recognized by the AHA in the Mission: Lifeline program. Gold-level awardees must demonstrate at least 24 months of 85 percent or higher composite adherence to all performance achievement indicators and 75 percent or higher compliance on all quality measures. This is the fourth year in a row that Barnes-Jewish has received the Gold-level award.

The AHA, together with the American Stroke Association, also awarded the Washington University and Barnes-Jewish Hospital Stroke & Cerebrovascular Center the “Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke” (GWTG–Stroke) Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award for the third consecutive year.

"The 'Get With The Guidelines' award recognizes our long-term commitment to the most timely, evidence-based care for every stroke patient," says Jo-Ann Burns, CNS-BC, stroke program coordinator at Barnes-Jewish. "Every second matters in stroke treatment."

To receive the GWTG-Stroke Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award, Barnes-Jewish Hospital achieved 85 percent adherence for at least 24 months to all "Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke" Quality Achievement indicators and achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 "Get With The Guidelines®–Stroke" Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care. These include aggressive use of medications like the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation. 

Barnes-Jewish is the first and only hospital in the state of Missouri to be certified by The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, recognized for treating the most complex strokes and aneurysms. In 2012, Barnes-Jewish Hospital treated over 1,600 stroke and cerebrovascular patients. 100 percent of ischemic stroke patients arriving to Barnes-Jewish within two hours of symptom onset were treated with tPA within three hours of symptom onset, besting state and regional averages of 78 and 86 percent, respectively. The hospital’s door-to-needle tPA times are among the fastest nationwide.

Learn more about the Heart and Vascular Center and the Stroke and Cerebrovascular Center.

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Barnes-Jewish Hospital is a 1,315 bed teaching hospital affiliated with Washington University School of Medicine in St. Louis, Mo. The hospital has a 1,763 member medical staff, with many recognized as "Best Doctors in America." Barnes-Jewish is a member of BJC HealthCare, which provides a full range of health care services through its 13 hospitals and more than 100 health care sites in Missouri and Illinois. Barnes-Jewish Hospital is also consistently ranked as one of America’s “Best Hospitals” by U.S. News & World Report.

Contact:
Nicholas McLaren
Office: 314.286.0051
[email protected]