Pictured above: Code Blue Committee/Team
SARASOTA (July 8, 2022) – Sarasota Memorial Hospital has once again received top honors and recognition for medical outcomes and excellence from the American Heart Association and the American Stroke Association, as part of the organizations’ annual Get With The Guidelines assessments. These yearly awards recognize hospitals and healthcare systems that not only meet top standards of care but do so consistently, month to month and year to year.
And this year, the Sarasota hospital was not only again awarded the Gold Plus with Target: Stroke Honor Roll Elite and Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll, but also received the Resuscitation Silver Adult Award, the highest achievement possible for any healthcare system in its first year participating.
Resuscitation Silver Adult Award
With a focus on saving lives by preventing in-hospital cardiac arrest, the Get With The Guidelines – Resuscitation assessment evaluates response times and best practices in measuring a hospital’s effectiveness in recognizing and treating cardiac arrest. Hospitals are assessed according to four objective criteria, including critical response times that must be under two minutes. A Silver Adult award indicates excellence in recognizing and treating imminent cardiac arrest in patients over 18 years of age, with at least an 85% compliance with all four criteria over the course of the entire 2021 year. (Note: because part of this assessment is measuring consistency, Silver is the highest achievement that a hospital can attain in its first two years participating. This was Sarasota Memorial’s first year submitting data for assessment.)
The recognition is due in no small part to the efforts of Sarasota Memorial’s Code Blue leaders. Named after the signal for cardiac arrest –a “Code Blue”– this interprofessional committee of department leaders and decision-makers meets monthly to review monthly code blue data and examine processes for quality improvement. Based on their findings, the Code Blue Committee updates processes, equipment, medication, and documentation so that SMH Code Blue providers respond to cardiac arrest with the most up-to-date evidence-based practice and guidelines in order to promote the best patient outcomes. The Code Blue Committee includes members from Public Safety, Nursing, Pharmacy, Medicine, Supply Chain, Respiratory Care Services, Telecommunications, Biomedical, and Quality Improvement.
“We want to recognize and thank SMH’s Code Blue Committee and the Code Blue providers for their expertise and commitment to our most vulnerable patients,” said Lorrie Liang, president of Sarasota Memorial Hospital – Sarasota. “Their vigilance and the life-saving measures we have in place ensures the best
outcomes for patients experiencing cardiopulmonary arrest in the hospital.”
Gold Plus with Target Stroke Honor Roll Elite
With regards to the treatment of stroke, the Gold designation indicates SMH demonstrates continued excellence over the course of more than two years, with at least 85% adherence to AHA and ASA standards for accurate diagnosis, rapid response, evidence-based treatment, and responsible follow-up care, including education and rehabilitation. The Plus designation indicates an extra level of achievement as evidenced by 75% adherence to additional quality measures reflected by the latest best practices and recommended approaches. The Honor Roll Elite designation indicates at least a year of 75% achievement of door-to-needle times within 60 minutes in applicable stroke patients.
Target: Type 2 Diabetes Honor Roll
Only available to health care systems achieving Silver or higher in its parent module (in this case, stroke care), this award indicates excellence in treating patients whose presentation may be complicated by a diagnosis of Type 2 Diabetes, with regards to rapid response, appropriate medication and safeguards, and responsible follow-up care.
About Sarasota Memorial Health Care System
Sarasota Memorial Health Care System, offering Southwest Florida’s greatest breadth and depth of care, provides services for more than 1 million patients each year across its 2 hospital campuses, free-standing ER, and network of outpatient care centers. The system’s 895-bed flagship facility, Sarasota Memorial Hospital-Sarasota, has been consistently recognized as one of the nation’s best acute-care hospitals, with superior patient outcomes and a complete continuum of care — from trauma, emergency and urgent care services to laboratory and diagnostic imaging, home health, skilled nursing and rehabilitation. Learn more at smh.com.