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MUSC receives award in treatment of heart attack patients
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MUSC
has received the 2008 Action Registry–Get With The Guidelines (GWTG)
Program Silver Performance Achievement Award from the American College
of Cardiology Foundation and American Heart Association (AHA) for its
success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack
patients.
 Cardiovascular
outcomes program nurses Sandie Coons, from left, and Linda Easler join
Maggie Bobo, Mid-Atlantic Affiliate American Heart Association and Dr.
Peter Zwerner, co-director of MUSC’s Chest Pain Center, in receiving
the 2008 Action Registry—Get With The Guidelines Silver Performance
Award for achieving higher standards of care for heart attack patients.
MUSC is among the top hospitals in the country recognized for
consistently following the treatment guidelines in GTWG for 12
consecutive months. This protocol includes aggressive use of
medications like cholesterol-lowering drugs, beta-blockers, ACE
inhibitors, aspirin, and anticoagulants in the hospital.
“The full implementation of acute and secondary prevention
guideline-recommended therapy is a critical step in saving the lives
and improving outcomes of heart attack patients,” said Gregg C.
Fonarow, M.D., GTWG steering committee chairperson.
“MUSC’s accomplishment with the Get With The Guidelines program is an
example of our commitment to providing the highest level of care to our
patients with cardiovascular disease. We realize that by working
together as a team we can improve patient outcomes and save lives,”
said Peter Zwerner, M.D., MUSC cardiologist and co-director of the MUSC
Chest Pain Center.
The need for quality improvement programs is well established, with
more than eight million adult Americans having had a heart attack and
more than 900,000 developing new or recurrent heart attacks each year.
At age 40 or older, 18 percent of men and 23 percent of women will die
within a year after their first heart attack.
Friday, Feb. 13, 2009
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