North Fulton Hospital Receives Two American Heart Association Awards

North Fulton Hospital has received two Get With The Guidelines® Achievement Awards from the American Heart Association: the Heart Failure Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and the Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

The recognitions signify that North Fulton Hospital has reached an exceptional goal of treating heart failure and stroke patients according to the guidelines of care recommended by the American Heart Association.

The Get With The Guidelines program helps North Fulton Hospital’s staff develop and implement acute and secondary prevention guideline processes to improve patient care and outcomes. The program provide hospitals with a web-based patient management tool, best practice discharge protocols and standing orders, along with a robust registry and real-time benchmarking capabilities to track performance.

The quick and efficient use of guideline procedures can improve the quality of care for stroke and  heart failure patients, save lives and ultimately, reduce healthcare costs by lowering recurrence and reducing disability.

“Recent studies show that patients treated in hospitals participating in the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program receive a higher quality of care and may experience better outcomes,” said Lee H. Schwamm, M.D., chair of the Get With The Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston, Mass. “North Fulton Hospital’s team is to be commended for their commitment to improving the care of their patients.”

Following Get With The Guidelines, stroke and heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies while in the hospital. Before discharge, they also receive education on managing their overall health, including lifestyle modifications and follow-up care. Hospitals must adhere to these measures at a set level for a designated period of time to be eligible for the achievement awards.

“North Fulton Hospital is dedicated to making our care for heart failure and stroke patients among the best in the country. The American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program helps us to accomplish this goal,” said Deborah C. Keel, CEO of the hospital. “This recognition demonstrates that we are on the right track, and we’re very proud of our team.”

According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million people suffer from heart failure.  Statistics also show that, each year, 670,000 new cases are diagnosed and more than 277,000 people will die of heart failure. However, many heart failure patients can lead a full, enjoyable life when their condition is managed with proper medications and devices and with healthy lifestyle changes. The AHA also reports that stoke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds, and someone dies of a stroke every four minutes. Approximately 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

To learn more about North Fulton Hospital, visit our website at www.NFultonHospital.com. To get a free referral to a physician, call 770-751-2600.