Bridgeport Hospital stroke care is golden; resuscitation efforts for cardiac arrest also cited

Bridgeport, CT – Bridgeport Hospital has been recognized by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for the quality of its stroke care and its resuscitation measures for cardiac arrest patients.

The hospital earned a Get with the Guidelines Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award after consistently meeting quality measures for stroke care in previous years. The award recognizes the hospital’s commitment and success in ensuring that stroke patients receive the most appropriate treatment according to nationally recognized, research-based guidelines.

The hospital also made the AHA/ASA Target: Stroke Honor Roll. This signifies that the hospital met quality measures to reduce the time between a 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, which is caused by a clot in an artery supplying blood to the brain. If 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.

“With a stroke, time lost is brain lost, and this award demonstrates our commitment to ensuring patients receive care based on nationally-respected clinical guidelines,” said emergency medicine physician Michael Werdmann, MD, co-medical director of the Bridgeport Hospital stroke program with neurologist Philip Barasch, MD.

Bridgeport Hospital has also met specific scientific guidelines as a Primary Stroke Center, featuring a comprehensive system for rapid diagnosis and treatment of stroke patients admitted to the emergency department.

According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. On average, someone suffers a stroke every 40 seconds; someone dies of a stroke every four minutes; and 795,000 people suffer a new or recurrent stroke each year.

Bridgeport Hospital’s efforts to save cardiac arrest patients were rewarded with a Get With the Guidelines Silver Resuscitation Award.

“The GWTG Resuscitation Award is a tribute not only to nurse educator Gloria Bindelglass’ excellent work in teaching the medical and nursing staff but also to the hospital’s entire CPR committee,” says cardiologist Gil Lancaster, MD, CPR committee chair. In addition, thanks to the excellent work of performance management specialist Lee Ann Jimmie, who collects invaluable data to document the group’s successes and identify opportunities to improve care.”

Dr. Lancaster also thanked the other hospital staff who make up and support the resuscitation team, including those from anesthesia, the medical residency program, medical supply, nursing, pharmacy and respiratory therapy.

More than 200,000 people have an in-hospital cardiac arrest each year, according to the American Heart Association. The GWTG Resuscitation program was developed to save the lives of those who experience in-hospital cardiac arrests by consistently following the most up-to-date research-based guidelines for treatment. Guidelines include following protocols for patient safety, medical emergency team response, effective and timely resuscitation (CPR) and post-resuscitation care.

Bridgeport Hospital, part of Yale New Haven Health, is a non-profit 501-bed acute care hospital with two campuses (plus 42 beds licensed to Yale New Haven Children's Hospital). Its Bridgeport and Milford Campuses serve patients from across the region. The hospital admits more than 23,000 patients and provides nearly 350,000 outpatient treatments annually. The Connecticut Burn Center at Bridgeport Hospital is the only burn center in the state and one of only 64 verified burn centers in the United States. Bridgeport Hospital is committed to providing safe, compassionate and cost efficient care to its patients and the community. www.bridgeporthospital.org