Baystate Medical Center Recognized for Stroke Care

SPRINGFIELD ― Baystate Medical Center’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment — using nationally recognized, research-based guidelines backed by the latest scientific evidence — has been rewarded with the American Heart Assoc./American Stroke Assoc. Get with the Guidelines – Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

Baystate earned the award by meeting specific quality-achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period. These measures include evaluation of the proper use of medications and other stroke treatments aligned with the most up-to-date, evidence-based guidelines with the goal of speeding recovery and reducing death and disability for stroke patients. Before discharge, patients should also receive education on managing their health, get a follow-up visit scheduled, as well as other care-transition interventions.

“We are pleased to recognize Baystate Medical Center for their commitment to stroke care,” said Dr. Eric Smith, national chairman of the Get with the Guidelines steering committee. “Research has shown that hospitals adhering to clinical measures through the Get with the Guidelines quality-improvement initiative can often see fewer readmissions and lower mortality rates.”

Baystate Medical Center additionally received the association’s TARGET: Stoke Elite Plus Honor Roll Award. To qualify for this recognition, hospitals must meet quality measures developed to reduce the time between the patient’s arrival at the hospital and treatment with the clot-buster tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat ischemic stroke.

Teamwork at Baystate Medical Center recently led to a new record for door-to-CT-scan time of four minutes for a stroke patient, with door-to-tPA time of 22 minutes. National guidelines call for door-to-imaging time (CT scan) within 25 minutes for suspected acute stroke patients, and door-to-tPA therapy should be 60 minutes or less.

“When it comes to stroke, minutes matter. Fast evaluation and treatment saves lives and makes rehabilitation more effective. Our dual stroke awards place Baystate Medical Center among an elite group of stroke-care providers nationwide recognized for their clinical excellence in treating any stroke from ischemic to hemorrhagic,” said Dr. Edward Feldmann, vice president and medical director, Neurosciences and Rehabilitation, Baystate Health. “These dual awards are a further recognition of our stroke care team who stand ready 24/7 to immediately provide patients with the best possible care so that they have the best possible outcome after their stroke.”

Until recently, tPA was the only proven therapy to treat ischemic stroke. Now doctors nationwide have a new advanced procedure called thrombectomy. In Western Mass., this procedure is performed exclusively at Baystate Medical Center’s neurointerventional laboratory. Thrombectomy involves anesthetizing the patient, then inserting a thin, metallic, stent-like device into an artery in the leg. The surgeon then threads the device up to the blockage in the brain, where it opens to immediately restore blood circulation, eventually grabbing onto the clot and pulling it out.

According to the American Heart Assoc./American Stroke Assoc., stroke is the fifth-leading cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the U.S. On average, someone in the U.S. suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, and nearly 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.