Multiple MUSC Health sites recognized for high-quality stroke care

Multiple MUSC Health stroke treatment sites recently earned the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines awards and other certifications. Neurologist Christine Holmstedt, D.O., is thrilled to see it.

“It's just been really amazing to watch. It's really great,” she said. 

Holmstedt serves as medical director of the MUSC Health Comprehensive Stroke Center in Charleston. Comprehensive status, issued by the nonprofit accreditation organization Joint Commission, is the highest level a stroke center can achieve.

And that top-tier stroke center is linked to all MUSC Health locations across the state through in-person and telehealth consultations. As the number of those locations has grown, so has the recognition level.

Get With The Guidelines

This year, MUSC Health Orangeburg and MUSC Health Lancaster earned Get With The Guidelines-Stroke recognition, along with MUSC Health in Charleston. 

The Heart Association calls Get With The Guidelines “an in-hospital program for improving stroke care by promoting consistent adherence to the latest scientific treatment guidelines.”

“Numerous published studies demonstrate the program’s success in achieving measurable patient outcome improvements,” the organization states on its website.

MUSC Health Orangeburg earned two awards from the Heart Association for it stroke care: 

• Gold Plus Quality Achievement Award.
• Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll award. (Diabetes raises the risk of having a stroke.)

The Orangeburg hospital, formerly the Regional Medical Center, became part of MUSC Health in 2023. Its current CEO, Walter Bennett, said his team focuses on enhancing patient care by following the most up-to-date treatment standards. 

“The Get With The Guidelines program gives our teams the tools and resources to apply evidence-based practices every day, something research has shown can lead to better patient outcomes. Ultimately, our mission is to help more people in the communities we serve live longer, healthier lives.”

MUSC Health Lancaster earned two Heart Association Awards for stroke care as well:

• Rural Stroke Gold.
• Stroke Bronze.

The Lancaster hospital joined MUSC Health in 2019. It has been designated a Primary Stroke Center by the Joint Commission, which means it’s “making exceptional efforts to foster better outcomes” for stroke patients.

New heights

Holmstedt has seen stroke care reach new heights throughout the MUSC Health system. “It’s absolutely night and day. And I think it's really because we're asking our regional hospitals, even if they don't have the exact resources we have, to deliver the level of care that our stroke patients receive here in Charleston,” she said.

“They have stepped up and gone above and beyond. All of our regional health hospitals have completely just shifted. And it's great because it's almost like they've become a little bit competitive with each other about who's the fastest, who's the best.”

Christina Blake, MUSC system director of Cerebrovascular Programs in Charleston, agreed. “I think the numbers are really staggering - how much faster their door to needle times are,” she said, referring to how long it takes for a patient who’s suffered an acute ischemic stroke to geta blood clot-busting drug.

“And if patients need to transfer to a hospital with more extensive stroke care, it’s important to get them moving as fast as they can. The hospitals are doing a great job of that. All of our hospitals take care of stroke patients, but at different resource levels. And their quality has just gone up dramatically.”        

Orangeburg and Lancaster aren’t the only fresh success stories. MUSC Health Columbia Medical Center Downtown earned Primary Stroke Center certification from Det Norske Veritas earlier this year. The international organization analyzes health care programs. 

“A Primary Stroke Center has the necessary staffing, infrastructure and programs to stabilize and treat most emergent stroke patients,” according to DNV’s website.

Blake said all of that is possible in part because of the connection with the MUSC Health Comprehensive Stroke Center in Charleston. “We've built the standard in South Carolina and in the Lowcountry for what a comprehensive center should be. And we're able to take in the regional hospitals who haven't had that support before and provide the framework that we've been able to already set for success.”