Baptist East named Primary Stroke Center


Baptist Hospital East is one of only seven hospitals in Kentucky to be named a Certified Primary Stroke Center for excellence in its neuroscience program.

The designation means Baptist East meets national quality standards for excellence in stroke care.

To achieve certification, Baptist East created a dedicated Neuroscience unit, formed and trained a stroke response team which springs into action when a stroke patient comes to the Emergency Department and began closely monitoring all aspects of the stroke care process to ensure everything was done by evidence-based national guidelines.

The result, along with improved outcomes, was a 100 fold increase in the number of patients treated with clot-busting tissue plasminogen-activator (t-PA).

“As the public has become more aware of the signs of stroke, and with the help of knowledgeable EMS staff, more individuals are arriving at the hospital within the narrow three-hour time frame from symptom onset so that they may receive the drug,” said Oncology and Neuroscience Director Denise Carroll.

“Though there are some significant contraindications, this treatment of stroke is the best we have today to move stroke from the third leading cause of death and disability to something much less than that. We’re working hard as a hospital to promote health by teaching as many people as we can possibly reach the signs of stroke and the importance of calling 911 immediately.”

Similar to the rest of the United States, about 85 percent of stroke patients seen at Baptist East have ischemic strokes – those caused by a blocked blood vessel.

Baptist East treated more than 500 stroke patients in 2006 – more than any other hospital in the state.

To receive designation as a Primary Stroke Center, the hospital’s stroke program went through a rigorous application process and submitted data on stroke admissions, treatment plans and outcomes. Joint Commission surveyors conducted an on-site review in January. The Joint Commission launched its Stroke Center certification program in 2003.