Piedmont Fayette Hospital has received the American College of Cardiology’s National Cardiovascular Data Registry (NCDR) ACTION Registry–Get With The Guidelines (GWTG) Platinum Performance Achievement Award for 2015. It is one of only 319 hospitals nationwide to receive the honor.
The award recognizes Piedmont Fayette’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of care for heart attack patients and signifies that it has reached an aggressive goal of treating these patients to standard levels of care as outlined by the American College of Cardiology/American Heart Association clinical guidelines and recommendations.
“This award is a proud achievement for Piedmont Fayette. It reflects the hard work and dedication of the staff who care for some of our most seriously ill patients and their families,” said Mary McFarland, RN, Senior Director of Cardiovascular Services. “This is truly recognition for our entire system, which includes the emergency departments at Piedmont Fayette and Piedmont Newnan hospital, as well as the EMS services of both Fayette and Coweta counties and many others. The implementation of these guidelines requires successful coordination between all of these teams and is a critical step in saving the lives and improving outcomes of heart attack patients.”
To receive the ACTION Registry–GWTG Platinum Performance Achievement Award, Piedmont Fayette consistently followed the treatment guidelines in the ACTION Registry–GWTG Premier for eight consecutive quarters and met a performance standard of 90 percent for specific performance measures. Full participation in the registry engages hospitals in a robust quality improvement process using data to drive improvements in adherence to guideline recommendations and overall quality of care provided to heart attack patients.
“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 James Jollis, MD, FACC, ACTION Registry-GWTG Chair and Professor of Medicine and Radiology at Duke University Hospital.
The Center for Disease Control estimates that over 700,000 Americans suffer a heart attack each year. A heart attack occurs when a blood clot in a coronary artery partially or completely blocks blood flow to the heart muscle. Treatment guidelines include administering aspirin upon arrival and discharge, timely restoration of blood flow to the blocked artery, smoking cessation counseling and cardiac rehabilitation, among others.
ACTION Registry–GWTG is a partnership between the American College of Cardiology and the American Heart Association with partnering support from the American College of Emergency Physicians and the Society of Cardiovascular Patient Care. The American College of Cardiology is a 49,000-member medical society that is the professional home for the entire cardiovascular care team. The mission of the College is to transform cardiovascular care and to improve heart health. For more information, visit ACC.org.
