American Heart Association recognizes six MultiCare hospitals for quality of heart and stroke care

Six hospitals from MultiCare have been recognized with the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association’s annual Get With The Guidelines®-awards for implementing specific quality improvement standards in the treatment of patients who suffer from cardiac arrest or stroke.

The Get With The Guidelines program leverages the expertise of the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association to work for hospitals nationwide, helping to align care with the latest research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence.

Get With The Guidelines-Stroke is an in-hospital program for improving stroke care by promoting consistent adherence to the latest scientific treatment guidelines, while the Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation program was developed with the goal to save lives of those who experience in-hospital cardiac arrests through consistently following the most up-to-date research-based guidelines for treatment.

Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States and a leading cause of adult disability. Hospitals earned stroke awards by meeting specific quality achievement measures for the diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients at a set level for a designated period.

More than 200,000 adults and children have an in-hospital cardiac arrest each year, according to AHA / ASA. Resuscitation guidelines include following protocols for patient safety, medical emergency team response, effective and timely resuscitation (CPR) and post-resuscitation care.

This year’s MultiCare awardees are:

• Good Samaritan Hospital: GWTG Resuscitation Award (AHA) Gold (Adult), GWTG Resuscitation Award (AHA) Silver (Newly Born), GWTG Stroke Award (AHA) Gold Plus, GWTG Stroke Award (AHA) Target Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll
• Auburn Regional Medical Center: GWTG Resuscitation Award (AHA) Silver (Adult) and GWTG Stroke Award (AHA) Gold Plus.
• Tacoma General Hospital (including Allenmore Hospital): GWTG Resuscitation Award (AHA) Silver (Adult)
• Deaconess Hospital: GWTG Stroke Award (AHA) Gold Plus
• Valley Hospital: GWTG Stroke Award (AHA) – Silver

Hospitals earn silver recognition for maintaining performance for at least one calendar year, and gold recognition for maintianing performance for at least two consecutive calendar years.

“We are pleased to recognize the MultiCare hospitals for their commitment following these guidelines,” said Eric E. Smith, M.D., national chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and an associate professor of neurology at the University of Calgary in Alberta, Canada. “Shortening the time to effective resuscitation and maximizing post-resuscitation care is critical to patient survival.”

Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation builds on the work of the American Heart Association’s National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation originally launched in 1999 and has collected in-hospital cardiac arrest data from more than 500 hospitals. Data from the registry and the quality program give participating hospitals feedback on their resuscitation practice and patient outcomes. In addition, the data helps improve research-based guidelines for in-hospital resuscitation.

Learn more about Get With The Guidelines programs