Kaiser’s Vacaville Medical Center seeks stroke center certification

Kaiser Permanente’s Vacaville Medical Center is beginning the process for certification as a primary stroke center by The Joint Commission.

Certification recognizes centers that follow the best practices for stroke care. Programs that receive such recognition must:

* Use a standardized method of delivering care;

* Support patient self-management activities;

* Tailor treatment and intervention to individual needs;

* Promote the flow of patient information across settings and providers, while protecting patient rights, security and privacy; and

* Analyze and use standardized performance measure data to continually improve treatment plans.

Stroke-center certification assures patients and their families that those arriving at the hospital with symptoms of a stroke will be treated quickly and with the best evidence-based therapies, and that follow-up care and rehabilitation, where needed, will be coordinated and comprehensive.

Kaiser Permanente Vacaville’s Medical Center has a stroke committee made up of emergency department physicians, hospitalists, neurologists, speech and physical therapists, nurses and representatives from pharmacy and radiology all dedicated to providing the best outcomes to stroke patients.

Additionally, the hospital has implemented “stroke alerts” to notify key patient care staff when there is a suspected stroke case. Stroke patients are then given priority access to CT scanners and the lab to help expedite their care.

“Stroke requires emergency treatment, and that includes administering TPA, a vital medicine used in eligible stroke patients to help dissolve blood clots, within 60 minutes of a patient’s arrival,” said Dr. Deven Mistry, stroke medical director for Kaiser Permanente in Vacaville.

Kaiser Permanente’s Vacaville Medical Center expects to undergo an on-site review by stroke program experts from The Joint Commission before the end of summer to determine certification status.