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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Louise Nakada
Director of Community Relations
(510) 814-4362
LNakada@alamedahospital.org
Alameda Hospital Salutes Nurses During National Nurses Week
Alameda, May 6, 2013 - Alameda Hospital is joining the American Nurses Association in celebrating Delivering Quality and Innovation in Patient Care, as part of National Nurses Week.
National Nurses Week is held from May 6-12 every year to coincide with Florence Nightingale’s birthday, May 12. Many consider Nightingale the founder of modern nursing. The history of Nurses Week began in 1953 when Dorothy Sutherland of the U.S. Department of Health, Education and Welfare sent the proposal to President Eisenhower. In 1974, President Nixon proclaimed a “National Nurse Week”.
The purpose of the weeklong celebration is to raise awareness of the value of nursing and to help educate the public about the role nurses play in meeting the health care needs of the American people.
In honor of the dedication, commitment, and tireless effort of the nearly 3.1 million registered nurses nationwide to promote and maintain the health of our nation, Alameda Hospital is proud to recognize registered nurses everywhere for the quality work they provide seven days a week, 365 days a year.
In celebration of National Nurses Week and in honor of their nurses, Alameda Hospital sponsors several events including lunchtime speakers, roving mini-massages, and an ice cream social. In addition, nursing staff members vote for one of their colleagues to receive the Florence Nightingale Award for Excellence in Nursing. Recipients of the annual Award are recognized with a plaque in the hospital’s main lobby.
In honor of Delivering Quality and Innovation in Patient Care, all registered nurses in America are encouraged to proudly identify themselves as registered nurses, and/or wear their nurse’s uniform or cap.
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Alameda Hospital Receives Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award
Award demonstrates Alameda Hospital’s commitment to quality care for stroke patients
Alameda, March 26, 2013 – Alameda Hospital announces that it has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award. The award is an advanced level of recognition that allows hospitals to be acknowledged for their compliance with quality measures within the Get with The Guidelines/Stroke program. This award recognizes Alameda Hospital’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of stroke care by ensuring that stroke patients receive treatment according to nationally accepted standards and recommendations.
“With stroke, time lost is brain lost, and the Get With The Guidelines Stroke Silver Plus Performance Achievement Award demonstrates that our staff is committed to providing care that has been shown in the scientific literature to quickly and efficiently treat stroke patients with evidence-based protocols,” said Dr. Claudine Dutaret, M.D., Medical Director of Alameda Hospital’s Stroke Center.
To receive the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Silver Plus Quality Achievement Award, Alameda Hospital achieved at least 12 consecutive months of 85 percent or higher adherence to all Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Achievement indicators and achieved at least 75 percent or higher compliance with six of 10 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Quality Measures during that same period of time, which are reporting initiatives to measure quality of care.
These measures include aggressive use of medications, such as antithrombotics, anticoagulation therapy, DVT prophylaxis, cholesterol reducing drugs and smoking cessation, all aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.
In addition to the Get With The Guideline-Stroke award, Alameda Hospital has also been recognized as a recipient of the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll, for improving stroke care. Over the past quarter, at least 50 percent of the hospital’s eligible ischemic stroke patients have received tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital (known as ‘door-to-needle’ time). A thrombolytic, or clot-busting agent, tPA is the only drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration for the urgent treatment of ischemic stroke. If given intravenously in the first three hours after the start of stroke symptoms, tPA has been shown to significantly reverse the effects of stroke and reduce permanent disability.
Get With The Guidelines-Stroke uses the “teachable moment,” the time soon after a patient has had a stroke, when they are most likely to listen to and follow their healthcare professionals’ guidance. Studies demonstrate that patients who are taught how to manage their risk factors while still in the hospital reduce their risk of a second heart attack or stroke.
“The time is right for Alameda Hospital to be focused on improving the quality of stroke care by implementing 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,” said Deborah Stebbins, Alameda Hospital CEO.
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is one of the leading causes of death and serious, long-term 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.
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