Big Whoopee
When they start reporting on how their 30-day death rates and full recovery rates are so much higher than average, then I'll give them credit. Not before!
http://www.newswise.com/articles/uchicago-medicine-first-in-chicago-to-net-comprehensive-stroke-center-status
The Joint Commission and the American Heart Association/American
Stroke Association have recognized the University of Chicago Medicine as
a Comprehensive Stroke Center, a new level of certification reserved
for institutions with specific abilities to receive and treat the most
complex stroke cases.
UChicago Medicine is the first hospital in Chicago to earn this distinction. There is no higher stroke certification.
Comprehensive
Stroke Centers are recognized as industry leaders and are “responsible
for setting the national agenda in highly-specialized stroke care,”
(then they have failed)according to the Joint Commission, which evaluates and accredits more
than 20,000 health care organizations and programs in the country.
Certification
recognizes those hospitals that have state-of-the-art infrastructure,
staff and training to receive and treat patients with the most complex
strokes.
“By achieving this advanced certification, the University
of Chicago Medicine has thoroughly demonstrated the greatest level of
commitment to the care of its patients with a complex stroke condition,”
said Joint Commission President Mark R. Chassin, MD, FACP, MPP, MPH.
Joint
Commission surveyors evaluated UChicago Medicine and its stroke center
July 29 and 30, 2013. On Oct. 3, the team notified the medical center
that it met or exceeded all comprehensive stroke center standards and
requirements and had been granted comprehensive status.
“This is
quite a distinction and a powerful confirmation of the strength of our
multidisciplinary team and their ability to work together to help
complicated stroke patients,” said Jeff Frank, MD, professor of
neurology, director of neurocritical care, and co-director of the
Comprehensive Stroke Center at the University of Chicago Medicine.
The
Chicago area has the first coordinated pre-hospital network in the
state in which ambulances take stroke patients directly to the closest
primary stroke center. “An ambulance transporting a patient suffering
from a severe stroke, who needs extremely specialized care, can bypass
even a primary center and go straight to the closest comprehensive
center,” Frank said.
Designation as a Comprehensive Stroke Center
follows a rigorous application process that includes review of volume of
cases, advanced imaging and care capabilities, around-the-clock
availability of specialized treatments, dedicated neuro-intensive care
beds for complex stroke patients, post-hospital coordination,
participation in research, and staff with the necessary education and
skills to care for the most complex stroke patients.
“Comprehensive
Stroke Center accreditation by the Joint Commission is an important
differentiator,” said Eric Beck, DO, assistant professor of medicine at
the University of Chicago and medical director of the EMS system for the
City of Chicago (South). “It recognizes the University of Chicago
Medicine's focus on providing the highest quality of care for stroke
patients as well as an institutional commitment to the regional system
of care.”
The Advanced Certification for Comprehensive Stroke
Centers was developed in September 2012 by the Joint Commission in
collaboration with the AHA/ASA. It was derived from careful evaluation
of nearly 40 years of published data on stroke-related care, clinical
trial results, scientific guidelines and input from professional
organizations.
“The goal of establishing this new level of
certification is to recognize the significant differences in resources,
staff and training that are necessary for the treatment of complex
stroke cases,” according to the Joint Commission. “We also anticipate
that, over time, municipalities and regions will develop a formal
referral network so the most complicated cases can be treated at the
centers best equipped to provide the specialized care that can lead to
better outcomes.”
The benefits of an established and certified
regional stroke-care system were confirmed by a recent citywide study
published July 1, 2013, online in JAMA Neurology. The researchers showed
that implementation in 2011 of a 10-hospital stroke system more than
doubled rapid access to state-of-the-art care for stroke patients,
including a 30-minute reduction in onset-to-treatment time. “The effect
was noted immediately following policy implementation,” the authors
wrote, “and has been sustained for nearly 2 years.”
Each year,
nearly 1 million people in the United States are hospitalized by stroke,
which was the fourth-leading cause of death in 2010.
oc1dean rocks!
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