Stallworth Hospital’s stroke rehab program lands quality award
Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital's Stroke Rehabilitation Program has earned the Gold Seal of Approval for health care quality.
The Joint Commission awarded the rehabilitation hospital the Disease-Specific Care Certification for Stroke Rehabilitation, making it the only one in the state of Tennessee with this distinction.
“In 2009, four out of five families will be touched by stroke and it's important for the public to realize how important quality treatment and rehabilitation are to the stroke recovery process,” said Howard Kirshner, M.D., director of the stroke program at Stallworth.
“This distinction from The Joint Commission recognizes the services we provide each day to restore patient function, teach people with disabilities new ways to perform daily activities and support and educate stroke survivors and their families.”
To earn this distinction, a disease management program undergoes an extensive, unannounced, on-site evaluation by a team of Joint Commission reviewers every two years.
The program is then evaluated against Joint Commission standards through an assessment of a program's processes, its ability to evaluate and improve care and interviews with patients and staff.
Each year more than 700,000 people experience a new or recurrent stroke, which is the nation's third leading cause of death.
Stroke is a leading cause of serious, long-term disability in the United States, with about 4.7 million stroke survivors alive today.