South Georgia Medical Center has received the American Heart Association Get With The Guidelines award for excellence in stroke treatment for the tenth consecutive year. SGMC has the area’s only certified primary stroke center and received the Stroke Gold Plus with Target: Honor Roll Elite Plus recognition and the Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll.
To achieve and/or maintain this level of achievement, SGMC must demonstrate commitment to following up-to-date, research-based guidelines for the treatment of stroke which leads to more lives saved, shorter recovery times, and fewer readmissions to the hospital.
Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke. In 2020, 1 in 6 deaths from cardiovascular disease was due to stroke. Studies show patients recover much quicker and are able to go back to healthy, normal lives when providers consistently follow treatment guidelines. Get With The Guidelines puts the expertise of the American Heart and Stroke Associations to work for hospitals nationwide, helping ensure patient care is aligned with the latest evidence and research.
According to SGMC’s Stroke Coordinator Jan Brasher, “Maintaining this designation requires efficient coordination among emergency medical services, the emergency department, and stroke teams, as well as streamlined processes for evaluating patients, ordering diagnostic tests, and administering treatment.”
SGMC’s Stroke Program prides itself in having “door-to-needle-times” that consistently beat state and national averages. Door-to-needle time refers to the interval between a patient’s arrival at the hospital and initiating treatment with intravenous thrombolytic therapy. The goal of reducing door-to-needle time is to minimize delays in providing time-sensitive treatment to stroke patients. Intravenous thrombolytic therapy is administered to dissolve blood clots and restore blood flow to the brain. The effectiveness of this treatment decreases as time passes, so prompt administration is crucial.
For more information on SGMC’s Stroke Program, visit sgmc.org.