Lexington Medical Center honored for excellence in stroke care
May 24, 2017
Lexington Medical Center has received a “Gold Plus” Quality Achievement Award for stroke care from the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® – Stroke program. The hospital also received its Target: Stroke Honor Roll recognition.
The “Gold Plus” award is the highest honor bestowed to hospitals for stroke care and recognizes commitment and success in implementing excellent care for stroke patients. The honor goes to hospitals with excellent adherence to stroke quality indicators and measures, including use of proven medications, therapy, cholesterol-reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability, and improving the lives of stroke patients.
To qualify for the Target: Stroke Honor Roll, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-busting drug tissue plasminogen activator. If given 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.
“Caring for patients experiencing a stroke is an interdisciplinary collaboration. Every member of the team strives to provide evidence-based stroke care with the goal of reducing the disabling effects a stroke can have on a person and his or her family. I am proud of our team and the level of stroke care they provide,” said Erin Stillinger, RN, BSN, stroke outcomes coordinator at Lexington Medical Center.
Lexington Medical Center is certified by Det Norske Veritas Healthcare, Inc. as a Primary Stroke Center. This certification program recognizes organizations that follow the best practices for stroke care. Achieving Primary Stroke Center certification demonstrates Lexington Medical Center’s dedication to promoting better outcomes for patients.
About Lexington Medical Center
Lexington Medical Center is a 428-bed hospital in West Columbia, South Carolina. It anchors a health care network that includes six community medical centers and employs a staff of more than 6,500 health care professionals. The network also has cardiovascular and oncology care affiliated with Duke Health, an occupational health center, the largest skilled nursing facility in the Carolinas, an Alzheimer’s care center and more than 65 physician practices. Lexington Medical Center operates one of the busiest Emergency departments in South Carolina, treating nearly 85,000 patients each year. The hospital delivers more than 3,500 babies each year and performs more than 23,000 surgeries. Lexington Medical Center is currently undergoing the largest hospital expansion in South Carolina history by creating a new patient tower that will open in 2019. Lexington Medical Center has a reputation for the highest quality care. For more information, visit LexMed.com.
