Stroke is a type of cardiovascular disease (related to the heart and blood vessels) that affects the arteries leading to and within the brain. A stroke occurs when a vessel that carries oxygen and nutrients to the brain is either blocked by a clot or bursts. When that happens, part of the brain cannot get the blood and oxygen it needs and it begins to die.

Visit the American Heart Association's website for more information on stroke.

The North Shore-Long Island Jewish Health System is committed to optimizing the care of stroke patients through the implementation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and by maintaining New York State Department of Health Stroke Center Designation in all ten acute care hospitals. To sustain continuous improvement and monitor performance, our hospitals participate in the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines-Stroke program which ensures patients are treated appropriately from admission through discharge. The performance measures that have been implemented and are monitored include:

• Timely administration of Intravenous Tissue Plasminogen Activator (IV t-PA)-clot busting drug
• Early administration of antithrombotic therapy-prevent blood clots to reduce the risk of early recurrent stroke
• Early administration of deep vein thrombosis (DVT) therapy-blood clots in legs
• Prescribing antithrombotic therapy at discharge
• Prescribing anticoagulation therapy-stop blood clotting-at discharge for patients with Atrial Fibrillation (AF)-an irregular heart rate that predisposes to stroke
• Prescribing cholesterol-reducing medication at discharge-to lower Low Density Lipoprotein (LDL) to less that 100
• Provide advice and/or counseling to stop smoking

*A composite score is a single score that indicates how well a hospital does to provide these evidence-based interventions for the care of Stroke patients when appropriate.