This spring, the American Heart Association (AHA) and American Stroke Association (ASA) recognized the Mischer Neuroscience Institute at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center with the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus - Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite Plus award.
This award recognizes adherence to the following criteria established by the AHA/ASA:
- Achieving 85 percent or higher compliance with all seven Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Achievement Measures for two or more consecutive years;
- Achieving 75 percent or higher compliance with five or more Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures for one or more consecutive years;
- And achieving door-to-needle times of 60 minutes or less in at least 75 percent of applicable acute ischemic stroke patients and achieving door-to-needle times of 45 minutes or less in at least 50 percent of applicable acute ischemic stroke patients.
Each May, the American Stroke Association recognizes American Stroke Month, creating an opportunity to educate Americans about the dangers of stroke, raise awareness of the seriousness of strokes and teach ways to prevent strokes. Strokes are the leading cause of disability in the U.S. and the fifth most common cause of death. One out of six people will suffer a stroke in his or her lifetime.
The Get With The Guidelines award joins a long list of Mischer Neuroscience Institute’s accolades recognizing its commitment to quality outcomes and high-level patient care, including:
- The first stroke center in Houston and one of the first dedicated stroke programs in the world;
- The first and only stroke program in Texas to meet the Joint Commission’s rigorous standards for the highly coveted Comprehensive Stroke Center certification;
- Along with academic partners at UTHealth Medical School, launched the first Mobile Stroke Unit in the United States to deliver clot-busting treatment onsite within the first hour of symptom onset;
- The first facility in Houston and one of the first in the United States to test the clot-dissolving drug tPA for acute stroke;
- The first center in Houston to test and prove the efficiency of three disparate treatments for stroke prevention: carotid surgery; administration of antiplatelet drugs, including aspirin; and patent foramen ovale closure.