The American Heart Association (AHA) has once again recognized Stony Brook Medicine’s commitment to combating two of the most severe and life-threatening conditions: stroke and heart failure.
Stony Brook University Hospital has earned the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke Gold Plus Achievement Award for the 14th consecutive year. The Stony Brook Southampton Hospital has also received the same recognition for its 11th year in a row, as well. Stony Brook University Hospital has also been awarded the Get With The Guidelines-Heart Failure Gold Plus quality achievement award for the sixth consecutive year.
According to the AHA, Get With The Guidelines “is a proven in-hospital approach to improving patient outcomes across cardiovascular and stroke focus areas.” Each program provides hospitals with the latest research-based guidelines as well as data and information for patient care.
Dr. Michael Guido, MD, neurologist and director of Stony Brook Neurology Stroke Program and co-director or Stony Brook Cerebrovascular and Comprehensive Stroke Center, shed light on the meticulous approach toward recognition.
“We have a team of coordinators watching over all the metrics in real-time,” Dr. Guido said. “Our EHR (electronic health record) is set to automatically track all our stroke patients, triggering automated data collection that’s monitored daily, seven days a week.”
This approach allows for immediate feedback to providers, especially when metrics indicate a potential issue. “Whenever possible, we correct the issue before it becomes a violation,” Guido said. “At the very least, we provide immediate feedback and on-the-spot education so things don’t happen twice.”
On the heart care front, Dr. Hal Skopicki, MD, chief of cardiology and co-director of the Stony Brook Heart Institute, has been working on the development of the heart failure program since 2007.
“We brought the first heart failure and cardiomyopathy center to Long Island,” he said. “The vision for it really being able to go ahead and not have people traveling to the city for that second opinion.”
Dr. Skopicki emphasized the importance of assembling a team of experienced professionals and developing specialized programs to address various aspects of heart health. These include a cardiogenic shock team, a cardio-oncology program, a cardio-obstetrics program and programs for hypertrophic cardiomyopathy and adult congenital heart disease.
Both doctors highlighted the challenges faced in delivering this level of care. Dr. Guido mentioned the constant need for time and funding, while Dr. Skopicki pointed out the complexities of navigating insurance coverage and medication costs for patients.
A unique aspect of Stony Brook Medicine’s approach, according to Dr. Skopicki, is its involvement in scientific research. “Because we’re an academic center, … we do cutting-edge research. We were part of the studies 10, 15 years ago. We have years of experience with these agents because we were offering them in clinical trials to our patients,” he said.
Dr. Guido also said that Stony Brook Medicine is working towards enhancing its overall patient care.
“We’re working towards improving our discharge, time to discharge, improving our time to administering thrombolytics and improving the screening of patients for ability to swallow before feeding them,” he said.
The recognition from the American Heart Association holds special significance for the team, and to Dr. Skopicki — a sign that their hard work is being recognized.
“We are very grateful that they have looked at us and said, you’re not silver, you’re not bronze, you’re not gold, you’re gold plus,” Dr. Skopicki said. “That’s an affirmation that the work we’re doing, in collaboration at times with the American Heart Association, has resulted in that kind of program.”
Correction Statement: Guido’s title has been updated from “Vasular (stroke) Neurology program’s medical director. Skopicki’s title has also been updated from “director of the Heart Failure and Cardiomyopathy Center program.” The previous featured image was of the Health Science Center building. It has been updated to show the exterior of Stony Brook University Hospital. It also spelled Guido’s first name as Micheal not Michael.
