Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett has received the Get With The Guidelines–Heart Failure Silver Performance Achievement Award from the American Heart Association. The recognition signifies that Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett has reached an aggressive goal of treating heart failure patients with 85% compliance for one year to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association/American College of Cardiology secondary prevention guidelines for heart failure patients.
Get With The Guidelines is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staff with tools that follow proven evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients to prevent future hospitalizations. According to Get With The Guidelines–HF treatment guidelines, heart failure patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE inhibitors, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants in the hospital. They also receive alcohol/drug use and thyroid management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged.
“The full implementation of national heart failure guideline recommended care is a critical step in preventing recurrent hospitalizations and prolonging the lives of heart failure patients,” said Gregg C Fonarow, M.D., National Chairman of the Get With The Guidelines Steering Committee and director of Ahmanson-UCLA Cardiomyopathy Center.
“The goal of the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines program is to help hospitals like Saint Francis Hospital-Bartlett implement appropriate evidence-based care and protocols that will reduce disability and the number of deaths in these patients.”
According to the American Heart Association, about 5.7 million people suffer from heart failure. Statistics also each year more than 292,200 people will die of heart failure.