STROKE PROGRAM

Focus on Quality Care 

Beverly Hospital Stroke Program

978 922-3000, ext. 3278

Areas of Focus and Core Beliefs

There are many areas of Stroke Care to be evaluated. Some are more easily affected than others with Performance Improvement intiatives. Northeast Hospitals is part of three different Quality Improvement intiatives; each with its own focus in terms of quality stroke care. Our organization elected to be part of all three because we wanted to provide the best quality stroke care that not only looked at the utilization of thrombolytics (clot busting medication), but the entire continuum of stroke care.

We believe that through community education, we can reduce the risk of stroke among our patient population. We also believe that the disability related to stroke can be reduced by early intervention. By educating the community, we hope to increase the number of patients seeking care early following the onset of stroke symptoms, thereby increasing the treatment options available to them.

We believe that by developing efficient and comprehensive systems within the model of care, we can affect change to ensure that the best possible care is provided to our patients. From educating staff to developing treatment guidelines for use during hospital stays, the Stroke Program is reaching towards excellence. What we do for patients in the hospital through coordinated care, patient and family education, identification of risk factors and intiating secondary prevention can greatly reduce the risk of re-stroke and improve quality of life for those who have disability related to stroke.

Quality Improvement Initiatives

Northeast Hospitals participates in three different, yet linked intiatives related to Stroke Care.  Together, they allow us to evaluate and improve stroke care more efficiently and comprehensively, and in a more coordinated way with both state and national programs. The three programs are briefly described below.

Primary Stroke Service Hospital (PSS)

Both Beverly Hospital and Addison Gilbert Hospital have been designated by the Massachusetts Department of Public Health as Primary Stroke Service Hospitals. This means that we are capable of providing Emergency Stroke Care 24/7. Our Stroke Team is able to respond to Acute Stroke patients in order to make a rapid determination regarding the efficacy of thrombolytics.

American Stroke Association: Get With the Guidelines-Stroke

Being a part of the American Stroke Association: Get with the Guidelines-Stroke Program gives us the support and direction to achieve Stroke Excellence throughout the care continuum. The "All Hospitals" benchmark for our perfromance improvement allows us to compare how we are doing with other hospitals involved in the program nationally. As a voluntary program, it includes programs who also are striving for stroke excellence.

SCORE: Stroke COllaborative Reaching for Excellence

SCORE is a program that is federally funded through the Coverdell Grant.  It is administered by the CDC and developed in cooperation with the Massachusetts Department of Public Health and American Stroke Association. This collaboration is a cutting-edge approach to reducing disability related to stroke. With an emphasis on a coordinated approach to emergency care, hospital interventions and primary and secondary prevention, the SCORE program assists us in achieving stroke care excellence.