Stroke care at Tuality receives national recognition

OHSU Tuality Healthcare has received national recognition for providing excellent, evidence-based care for stroke patients. The Tuality Stroke Care Center earned the Stroke Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award from the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines ® achievement awards.

Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program is intended to improve the quality of care and outcomes for stroke patients by promoting consistent adherence to the latest scientific treatment guidelines. This is the seventh year in a row the stroke center has been recognized for their success in meeting the criteria.

“We’ve done a lot to improve stroke care over the past year including monitoring patients after discharge who’ve experienced a cryptogenic stroke, a type of stroke from an unknown cause,” said Dr. Daniel Friedman, director of the Tuality Stroke Care Center. “We’ve also expanded treatment to 24 hours in certain circumstances for stroke patients.”

The Stroke Center team is made up of neurologists, neurosurgeons, and other medical staff, including:

• Neurologists
• Neurosurgeons Dr. Fred Williams and Dr. Jeremy Ciporen.
• Emergency Department staff, nursing staff and other Tuality personnel.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, 140,000 stroke-related deaths occur in the U.S. each year and the disease is a leading cause of long-term disability. Outcomes from stroke depend in large part on how and when the patient is treated after the injury occurs.

Dr. Friedman plans to continue improving stroke care at Tuality by looking into ways that his team can be part of acute rehabilitation for patients. He is also proposing a study to better understand why some patients experiencing a stroke will take themselves to the emergency room, instead of dialing 911. This may lead to a public awareness program.

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About OHSU Tuality Healthcare

OHSU Tuality Healthcare is a leading health care provider in Washington County, serving a market area of 350,000 and growing. Tuality is a nonprofit, community-based organization with hospitals in Hillsboro and Forest Grove, and numerous physician and outpatient clinics.  Tuality has a medical staff of over 400 doctors and other health care professionals and is one of the region’s largest employers with a staff of over 1,200.