(New Brunswick, NJ) – Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital’s Comprehensive Stroke Center has earned the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award and its Stroke Elite Plus Honor Roll Award – two of the highest honors that a center can receive from the organization for exceptional stroke care.
The Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award recognizes the hospital’s commitment to ensuring stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines based on the latest scientific evidence. RWJUH’s Comprehensive Stroke Center 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.
In addition, RWJUH’s Comprehensive Stroke Center also received the association’s Target: Stroke 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.
“This honor is testament to the unwavering commitment to quality, pursuit of innovation and implementation of the most current, best practices to deliver the best possible outcomes for stroke patients in our state,” explains Kiwon Lee, MD, Chief of Neurology at RWJUH and Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and Medical Director of the RWJUH’s Comprehensive Stroke Center. “We are proud that the American Heart Association and American Stroke Association have recognized this commitment and we are equally proud to continue providing residents of our state the most advanced stroke care available anywhere in the nation.”
RWJUH’s Comprehensive Stroke Center is certified by the Joint Commission. Joint Commission certification recognizes those hospitals that have state-of-the-art infrastructure, staff and training to receive and treat patients with the most complex strokes. RWJ underwent a rigorous onsite re-certification in the fall of 2017. Joint Commission experts reviewed RWJ’s compliance with the Comprehensive Stroke Center standards and requirements including advanced imaging capabilities, 24/7 availability of specialized treatments, and staff with the unique education and competencies to care for complex stroke patients.
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About Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital
Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (RWJUH), an RWJBarnabas Health Facility, is a 600-bed academic medical center that serves as the principal teaching hospital of Rutgers Robert Wood Johnson Medical School and the flagship Cancer Hospital of Rutgers Cancer Institute of New Jersey. Its Centers of Excellence include cardiovascular care from minimally invasive heart surgery to transplantation, cancer care, stroke care, neuroscience, orthopedics, bariatric surgery and women’s and children’s care including The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital at Robert Wood Johnson University Hospital (www.bmsch.org). A Level 1 Trauma Center and the first designated Pediatric Trauma Center in the state, RWJUH’s New Brunswick campus serves as a national resource in its ground-breaking approaches to emergency preparedness.
RWJUH has been ranked among the best hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report seven times and has been selected by the publication as a high performing hospital in numerous specialties. The Bristol-Myers Squibb Children’s Hospital has been ranked among the best hospitals in America by U.S. News & World Report five times. In addition, RWJUH was named among the best places to work in health care by Modern Healthcare magazine and received the Equity Care of Award as Top Hospital for Healthcare Diversity and Inclusion from the American Hospital Association. RWJUH Brunswick has earned significant national recognition for clinical quality and patient safety, including the prestigious Magnet® Award for Nursing Excellence and “Most Wired” designation by Hospitals and Health Networks Magazine. The American College of Surgeons’ Commission on Cancer has rated RWJUH among the nation’s best comprehensive cancer centers. For more Information visit us online at: www.rwjbh.org/newbrunswick
Contact:
Peter Haigney
RWJUH Public Relations
(732) 937-8568