Stroke center success: MUSC Health Columbia earns key certification

In just two years, MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown has built a stroke center and now has an important certification to show for it. Det Norske Veritas, an international organization that analyzes health care programs, has awarded the downtown Columbia hospital Primary Stroke Center certification. “A Primary Stroke Center (PSC) has the necessary staffing, infrastructure and programs to stabilize and treat most emergent stroke patients,” according to DNV’s website.

Stroke specialist Ramit Singla, M.D., helped start the stroke program at the downtown Columbia hospital. “From my standpoint, earning this certification just two years later is a big deal.”

Singla said it’s a big deal not only to the doctors, nurses and others involved in stroke care but also to patients. That’s because primary stroke centers meet important standards. They include the ability to treat a broad range of stroke conditions, offer stroke-specific units and beds, serve as transfer sites for patients from smaller hospitals and offer guidance to those hospitals. They may also help educate people who work in other hospitals and clinics in the area.

So achieving Primary Stroke Center certification has been a big effort. Nurse Grace Bailey, quality and safety manager for stroke care in the MUSC Health-Midlands Division, which includes Columbia, played a key role. She said patients who suffered strokes in the past could get care at the hospital, but it didn’t have a designated stroke unit like it does now.

“A lot of training went into this. Nurses took a mandatory class on caring for stroke patients. I’ve also seen a lot of buy-in from nurses and physicians on raising our standards even higher,” Bailey said.

The hospital now has a “brain attack team,” like a heart attack team, but for stroke patients. “We also created brain attack team kits. So the team members bring the medications with them to the bedside.That way, if they go to a unit that doesn't have the medicine, no one's scrambling to run back to the ICU or the ED. They have it with them.”

They also have access to the rest of MUSC Health’s stroke expertise. The MUSC Health Comprehensive Stroke Center in Charleston is available at any time for consultations.

And the downtown Columbia stroke team is expanding its care with a stroke clinic for follow-ups with patients. That’s important, because people who have had one stroke are at risk for another one, according to the American Stroke Association. Taking medications correctly, making lifestyle changes and being aware of stroke warning signs are important factors for stroke survivors to follow.

Bailey had a message for anyone who thinks they might be having a stroke. “Please come faster. Patients often write off some of their symptoms and take too long to come and see us. You know, they'll sleep on it, see how they feel in the morning.”

That can make the stroke’s impact much worse. There’s a saying in neurology: “Time is brain.” The faster a person who’s had a stroke gets treatment, the better their outcome should be. 

Now, people in the Columbia area have another option for getting that good outcome. Singla, Bailey and their colleagues are proud to be a part of it.“This had always been a great heart center. Now it has an excellent stroke center, too,” Bailey said.