Issue link: https://viewer.e-digitaledition.com/i/307452
S TROKE CAN BE devastating; it claims almost 130,000 American lives each year and is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability. Among medical subspecialties, stroke has one of the most mature independent data systems for patient treatment evaluation. Like trauma care, successful stroke treatment hinges on timeliness. Time is brain. In no other areas of medicine are outcomes measured and evaluated with as much exacting external criteria as in stroke and trauma care; the robust data in these specialties prompted certification of Level I Trauma Centers and Primary Stroke Centers. In 2012, after outcome data clearly established that stroke patients fare better at dedicated stroke centers with the most advanced infrastructure, treatments and neurological teams, The Joint Commission designed a new Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification to recognize hospi- tals with the capabilities to treat the most complex stroke cases. On Jan. 22, 2014, Regions Hospital — already a Level I Trauma Center and Primary COV ER+ FE AT UR E 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 GENERAL STROKE Brain Attack Coalition (BAC) publishes recommendations for Primary Stroke Centers (PSC). • Prototype of Paul Coverdell National Acute Stroke Registry is developed (Pilot in four states: Georgia, Michigan, Massachusetts, Ohio). • Stroke is second leading cause of death worldwide. BAC publishes stroke systems recommendations, Comprehensive Stroke Center criteria. New Stroke Center Committee adopts GWTG database. The Joint Commission (TJC) launches PSC certification. American Heart Association launches Get with the Guidelines (GWTG) database. Stroke Center — was the first hospital in Minnesota to receive Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification. "Stroke outcome measurements are where the rubber meets the road," says Bret Haake, MD, HealthPartners physician and Assistant Medical Director of Neurosciences at Regions Hospital's Stroke Center. "Today's treatments require a sophisticated level of expertise. In the past, aspirin helped one out of 77 patients with an ischemic stroke in the acute phase. Now we have the clot-buster medication, tissue plasminogen activator (tPA). If we can administer it within three hours of the onset of stroke, we help one in three patients. That is a huge increase. When tPA doesn't help, we have additional inter- ventional options. However, diagnosis and selection of tPA or another treatment option require subspecialty expertise. Regions has been dedicated to critically ill patients from its inception. Seeking Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification was in keeping with our commitment to providing complex critical care for neurological patients." Comprehensive Stroke Center Certification: Not for the Weak of Heart Carol Droegemueller, Regions Hospital clinical nurse specialist and Stroke Program Coordinator, explains the certification pro- cess: "We have been certified as a primary stroke center since 2007, so comprehensive certification was a natural progression for us. Centers across the country pursued this certification, but the requirements are stringent. We had many of them in place, but the review process was still rigorous." "Achieving Comprehensive Stroke Center "I BELIEVE IN EVIDENCE, OBSERVATION AND MEASUREMENT, CONFIRMED BY INDEPENDENT OBSERVERS. " — ISAAC ASIMOV Former Regions Hospital stroke patients participate in the on-site volunteer program ShareGivers to help others who have experienced a stroke. Regions Hospital — Minnesota's First Comprehensive Stroke Center: Capabilities in Treating Complex Stroke Cases RECENT+HISTORY+OF+STROKE+CARE REGIONS HOSPITAL By Marian Deegan 6 | Minnesota MD NEWS ■ M D N E W S . CO M