Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center is participating in the American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Stroke initiative. The goal of the program is to improve overall quality of care for stroke patients by improving acute stroke treatment and preventing future strokes and cardiovascular events.

Get With The Guidelines – Stroke was developed to help hospitals employ proven science-based treatment guidelines, including those developed by the American Stroke Association, American Heart Association and Brain Attack Coalition. These guidelines address acute stroke management, primary prevention of cardiovascular disease, secondary prevention of strokes and the establishment of primary stroke centers.

As a Get With The Guidelines – Stroke participating hospital, Seven Rivers Regional has been encouraged to develop a comprehensive system for providing rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke when patients are admitted to the emergency department. This includes being equipped 24 hours a day, seven days a week to provide brain imaging scans, making neurologists available to conduct patient evaluations and using clot-busting medications when appropriate.

Seven Rivers Regional is also increasing its efforts to prevent secondary strokes through the aggressive use of medications such as statins and anti-platelets as indicated in the secondary stroke prevention guidelines. Other methods include the treatment of atrial fibrillation and atherosclerosis and management of smoking cessation, weight, exercise, diabetes and cholesterol.

Through Get With The Guidelines – Stroke, the American Stroke Association provides Seven Rivers Regional with training and staffing recommendations, care maps, discharge protocols, standing orders, data-collection and measurement tools. The program also facilitates creating and sharing best practices among participating hospitals.

The time is right for Seven Rivers Regional to implement Get With The Guidelines – Stroke. The number of acute ischemic stroke patients eligible for treatment is expected to grow over the next decade due to increasing stroke incidence and a large aging population. Each year, about 700,000 people suffer a stroke – 500,000 are first attacks and 200,000 are recurrent. Of stroke survivors, 22 percent of men and 25 percent of women die within a year. For those aged 65 and older, the percentage is even higher. In 1999, $3.4 billion was paid to Medicare beneficiaries discharged from short-stay hospitals for stroke. Americans paid about $51 billion in 2003 for stroke-related medical costs and disability.

The American Stroke Association offers a wide array of programs, products and services, from patient education materials to scientific statements with cutting-edge information for health care professionals. The organization is committed to remaining the leader in providing credible stroke information to individuals and health care providers. For more information about the American Stroke Association or its initiative, visit StrokeAssociation.org or call 888.4.STROKE. For more information about Get With The Guidelines – Stroke, email guidelinesinfo@heart.org or visit www.strokeassociation.org/getwiththeguidelines.com. 

Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center is a general, medical/surgical acute care facility that opened its doors in 1978. The hospital has grown to 128 beds serving the communities of Citrus, Levy and South Marion Counties. Seven Rivers Regional Medical Center is fully accredited by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) and is licensed by the Florida State Department of Health and Human Services, Health Care Financing Administration, for participation in Medicare/Medicaid programs. Seven Rivers Regional can be found on the World Wide Web at www.srrmc.com.