WAILUKU - Maui Memorial Medical Center has received the "Get With the Guidelines - Heart Failure Gold Quality Achievement Award" from the American Heart Association, the hospital announced.
The award recognizes the hospital's achievement of its goal of treating heart failure patients with 85 percent compliance for at least 24 months to core standard levels of care as outlined by the American Heart Association and American College of Cardiology.
"Get With the Guidelines" is a quality improvement initiative that provides hospital staffs with tools to follow that have proven, evidence-based guidelines and procedures in caring for heart failure patients.
Under the program, patients are started on aggressive risk-reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, drugs for high blood pressure, aspirin, diuretics and anticoagulants while in the hospital. They also receive alcohol, drug use and thyroid management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before being discharged.
Complete implementation of the guidelines is "a critical step in preventing recurrent hospitalizations and prolonging the lives of heart failure patients," said Dr. Lee Schwamm, chairman of the Get With the Guidelines National Steering Committee and director of the TeleStroke and Acute Stroke Services at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston.
"Patients are getting the right care they need when they need it. That's resulting in improved survival," Schwamm said.
