The American Stroke Association recently awarded Barnes-Jewish Hospital’s stroke program with the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke (GWTG-Stroke) Gold Plus Performance Achievement Award. The award recognizes Barnes-Jewish Hospital and its Washington University physician partners for their commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to evidence-based guidelines.
Through GWTG-Stroke, Barnes-Jewish Hospital 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.
To receive the GWTG-Stroke award, Barnes-Jewish Hospital achieved 85 percent adherence for at least 24 months to all GWTG-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators. The hospital also achieved 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 GWTG-Stroke Quality Measures, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care. These include aggressive use of medications such as tPA, antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol-reducing drugs and smoking cessation.