Hoag Hospital Irvine announced it has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines® Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.

The award highlights the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute’s Stroke Program’s commitment to ensuring patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines founded on the latest scientific evidence and recommendations.

This is the eighth year Hoag Hospital Irvine has received the Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award, acknowledging Hoag’s role in reducing 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. When given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reduce the effects of stroke and lessen the chance of permanent disability.

Hoag Hospital Irvine 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 receive education on managing their health, as well as other care transition interventions.

"Stroke care is advancing rapidly and this award demonstrates Hoag’s commitment to delivering advanced stroke treatments quickly and safely to provide the best possible outcomes for our patients,” said Michael Brant-Zawadzki, M.D., F.A.C.R., senior physician executive and the Ron & Sandi Simon Executive Medical Director Endowed Chair of the Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute at Hoag. “Hoag Stroke Program’s multidisciplinary team is highly skilled and ready 24/7 to evaluate and successfully treat patients within an hour of arrival at the hospital.”

The Pickup Family Neurosciences Institute’s Stroke Program at Hoag in Irvine and Newport Beach is certified as a Comprehensive Stroke Center by DNV GL Healthcare USA, Inc. and Hoag Hospital Irvine is also certified as a Primary Stroke Receiving Center, affirming Hoag’s readiness to handle a full range of stroke-related medical problems.

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