Comprehensive Stroke Center awarded for high-quality care
Get With The Guidelines
UK HealthCare’s Kentucky Neuroscience Institute (KNI) has received the Get With The Guidelines – Stroke Gold-Plus Quality Achievement Award by the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association for maintaining nationally recognized standards for the treatment of stroke patients.
Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite
KNI also received the association’s Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite for meeting stroke quality measures that reduce the time between hospital arrival and treatment with the clot-buster medications (thrombolytic) to treat ischemic stroke.
Over 12 months, at least 75 percent of the hospital’s ischemic stroke patients received thrombolytic within 60 minutes of arriving at the hospital (known as door-to-needle time). Stroke patients who receive thrombolytic within three hours of the onset of symptoms may recover more quickly and are less likely to suffer severe disability.
Thirteenth year for designation
This year marks the thirteenth year that KNI has received Gold Plus designation. KNI has been named to the Target: Stroke Honor Roll the past eight years. We have also achieved “Elite Plus” level for the past two years.
Kentucky patients aren’t the only ones benefiting from this achievement.
"By participating in the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program, we are able to share our expertise with other member hospitals around the country, including access to the most up-to-date research, clinical tools and resources, and patient education resources," said Dr. Jessica Lee, medical director of the KNI Comprehensive Stroke Center.
The most advanced care for patients with stroke
Dr. Larry Goldstein, chair of the UK Department of Neurology and co-director of KNI, said that “Comprehensive Stroke Center status reflects our capability to provide the most advanced care for patients with stroke. These awards further underscore the hard work of our multidisciplinary team of neurologists, neurosurgeons, emergency physicians, nurses, therapists and others to optimize care delivery for stroke patients right here in Lexington.”
A leading cause of disability
According to the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association, stroke is the number five cause of death and a leading cause of adult disability in the United States. In 2023, stroke accounted for approximately 1 of every 19 deaths in the United States. In Kentucky, cardiovascular disease (which includes stroke) is the leading cause of death.
Heart disease and stroke claimed more lives in 2023 in the United States than all forms of cancer and chronic lower respiratory disease combined. Stroke was the underlying cause for 162,639 deaths in 2023. On average someone dies of a stroke every three minutes and fourteen seconds.
Certified as Comprehensive Stroke Center
The KNI Stroke Center is also also certified as a “Comprehensive Stroke Center” by The Joint Commission – its highest honor.