Heart, stroke programs at Baptist East earn Gold Performance Achievement Awards

Baptist Hospital East finds itself in an elite group when it comes to treating patients with coronary artery disease and stroke.

Baptist East has received the American Heart Association's Gold Performance Achievement Award for meeting high standards of care for treating these patients through its Get With the Guidelines™ program.

The hospital earned the two recognitions by consistently meeting or exceeding the measured indicators over 24 consecutive months. It is the third time for Baptist East to be recognized by the AHA in this performance program.

As part of the AHA's Get With The Guidelines stroke care program, Baptist East developed a comprehensive system for providing rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke among patients admitted to the emergency department. This includes being equipped 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide brain imaging scans, making neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.

Get With The Guidelines is a program to help standardize care for coronary artery disease, heart failure and stroke patients at participating hospitals. The program recognizes hospitals that have implemented systems that link the care they give with the latest scientific information.

Coronary artery disease guidelines include aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation and weight management counseling and referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged. These standards of care are outlined in the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for patients with coronary artery disease.