Four Key Takeaways About Stroke Program Certification

By Claire Thayer

Tim Hehr, Stroke Technical Advisor, Stroke Program Development, DNV GL Healthcare and Debbie Camp, Stroke Program Manager, Piedmont Newnan Hospital, participated in a recent Healthcare Web Summit webinar: Stroke Program Certification: Positive Impacts on Safety and Quality Care in the Piedmont Healthcare System.  Piedmont Healthcare is a large hospital system in the Atlanta area, four of their hospitals are DNV GL Healthcare certified stroke centers – a designation they have held for the last 5 years. The discussion offered an overview of the process to achieve a DNV GL Stroke Program Certification as well as focused on how certification has positively impacted the Piedmont Healthcare System.   If you missed this engaging webinar presentation, you’ll want to be sure to watch the Webinar Video. After the webinar, we interviewed the speakers on four key takeaways: 

1. How many levels of stroke certification are offered by DNV GL Healthcare? 

Tim Hehr: There are 4 levels of stroke certification offered by DNV-GL Healthcare:  Acute Stroke Ready, Primary Stroke Center, Primary Stroke Center Plus, and Comprehensive Stroke Center

2. What are a few of the sources and guidelines utilized in the development of the DNV GL Healthcare stroke certification standards? 

Tim Hehr: There are several sources utilized in developing DNV-GL Stroke Center Certification standards including The American Stroke Association, The Brain Attack Coalition, The American Association of Neuroscience Nurses, and The Society of NeuroInterventional Surgery.

3. Describe some of the advantages of DNV GL stroke certification for an organization like Piedmont Healthcare.

Debbie Camp: The biggest advantage is the annual on-site surveys and the collaborative/partnership that is provided by subject matter experts (surveyors’) who truly understand the job we do. The surveyors share best practices from around the country with our Team which has greatly improved our stroke program throughout our system.

4. Can you share examples of specific guidelines that were reviewed at Piedmont and describe how they positively impacted stroke care in that organization?

Debbie Camp: The ppt went through some of the process improvement (PI) initiatives for the non-conformities (NC1-2) and/or opportunities for improvement (OFI’s) that we received from our survey’s.

Because of the PI process being implemented at a system level we are able to ensure best practices across the system.

Below are examples of some of the Standards that matched the PI initiatives that were presented on the webinar.

NC-1 QM.7 (CR.2i) (Door to Monitored Bed)/Code Alteplase

NC-2-1 PC.10 Patient Care Plan of Care (CR.1) /(CR.1g)/Stroke Bleeding Precautions & Documenting Modifiable Risk Factors

NC-2-2 PC.8 Patient Care Protocols/Pre & Post Alteplase Parameters met

NC-2-3 PC.12 Patient Care Diagnostic Testing /Development of the Stroke Narrator to capture MD @ BSD prior to CT

NC-1-2 QM.7 (Quality Mgt Systems) Measurement, Monitoring, Analysis, PC.12 (Pt Care Services), Diagnostic Test, MS.1 (Medical Staff) Admissions Requirements/Development of Stroke Narrator

NC-1-1 PC.4 Patient Care Services Emergency Department/Developing Alteplase Audit Handoff Tool

NC-1-1 Protocols PC.8/CR.3a   &   Required Documentation (MR.4)/(CR.6b)/Standardized S/P CEA order sets and Documentation of V/S & Neuro Checks  

To view the full webinar, Stroke Program Certification: Positive Impacts on Safety and Quality Care in the Piedmont Healthcare System  – click here.