Stroke Center

The Stroke Center, part of Cushing Neuroscience Institute at North Shore-LIJ Health System, is a member of a vast network of New York State-designated stroke centers that are committed to excellence and quality in stroke care and services. By utilizing medications like Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA), a “clot-buster," our stroke teams are improving the outcome of stroke patients.

North Shore University Hospital is the only Comprehensive Stroke Center within the North Shore-LIJ Health System and offers cutting-edge stroke interventions that are not widely available. Such aggressive and effective treatments include intra-arterial thrombolytic, clot-removal and endovascular retrieval devices. North Shore University Hospital is also one of only two hospitals on Long Island to have earned a prestigious Certificate of Distinction from the Joint Commission for Advanced Certification as a Primary Stroke Center.


The North Shore-LIJ Health System's State-Designated Stroke Centers
Within the North Shore-LIJ Health System, there are 11 New York State Department of Health-designated stroke centers established throughout Long Island, Queens, Manhattan and Staten Island. These centers ensure the continuous transmission of research and technical advances in stroke treatment directly to the patients and communities we serve.

Receiving treatment at a state-designated stroke center can mean the difference between life and death. Patients diagnosed with ischemic stroke (the most common type) within three hours of an acute incident may be eligible to receive tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), a clot-busting drug that can often reverse damage. Patients with very large strokes diagnosed within eight hours can be transferred to North Shore University Hospital and treated with intra-arterial thrombolysis or clot-retrieval devices, both which are aggressive and effective treatments not widely available.


Award-Winning Excellence in Stroke Care
Each of North Shore-LIJ Health System's 11 hospitals has received the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association’s Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Quality Achievement Awards. The awards recognize the hospitals' commitment and successes in implementing a higher standard of stroke care to ensure that stroke patients receive treatment in accordance with the latest evidence-based guidelines.

To receive the Get With The Guidelines®-Stroke Quality Achievement Award, each hospital achieved 12 to 24 consecutive months of 85 percent or higher adherence to all stroke performance achievement indicators. These measures include:

• aggressive use of medications, such as tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, a clot-busting drug, and other therapies
• prevention of deep vein thrombosis
• cholesterol reducing drugs, and
• smoking cessation

All measures are aimed at reducing death and disability and improving the lives of stroke patients.


North Shore-LIJ hospitals have received the following Gold Plus and Gold Quality Achievement Awards (adherence to the stroke performance achievement indicators for 24 consecutive months):

• North Shore University Hospital – Gold Plus
• Glen Cove Hospital – Gold Plus
• Huntington Hospital – Gold Plus
• Long Island Jewish Medical Center – Gold Plus
• Plainview Hospital – Gold Plus
• Southside Hospital – Gold Plus
• Staten Island University Hospital – Gold Plus
• Forest Hills Hospital – Gold Plus
• Syosset Hospital – Gold Plus
• Franklin Hospital – Gold Plus
• Lenox Hill Hospital – Silver
   

North Shore-LIJ Receives Primary Stroke Center Certification
North Shore University Hospital is one of only two facilities on Long Island to receive Joint Commission Stroke Center Certification for its outstanding program. The Joint Commission launched the program – the nation’s first – in 2003.

The Joint Commission’s Primary Stroke Center Certification is based on the recommendations for primary stroke centers published by The Brain Attack Coalition and the American Stroke Association’s guidelines for stroke care.

The Brain Attack Coalition defines a comprehensive stroke center as “a facility or system with necessary personnel, infrastructure, expertise and programs to diagnose and treat stroke patients who require a high intensity of medical and surgical care, specialized tests or interventional therapies." This means that such a facility is capable of handling the most complex of strokes and is able offer the best possible outcomes. North Shore-LIJ's Comprehensive Stroke Center offers the latest in cutting-edge treatments that are not widely available, such as intra-arterial thrombolysis (using a micro-catheter to distribute a clot-busting agent to a blood clot) and clot-retrieval devices.

The Joint Commission seeks to continuously improve the safety and quality of care provided to the public through the provision of healthcare accreditation and related services that support performance improvement in healthcare organizations. The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits more then 15,000 health care organizations and programs in the United States, including more than 8,000 hospitals and home care organizations, and more than 6,800 other health care organizations that provide long-term care, assisted living, behavioral health care, laboratory and ambulatory care services. The Joint Commission also accredits health plans, integrated delivery networks, and other managed care entities. In addition, the Joint Commission provides certification of disease-specific care programs, primary stroke centers, and health care staffing services.
 

Multidisciplinary Team Work
The skilled team of physicians at the Stroke Center coordinates and collaborates with Cushing Neuroscience Institute's Brain Aneurysm Center to provide a comprehensive, multidisciplinary approach to the treatment and care of patients with strokes.

To make an appointment at the Stroke Center:
Cushing Neuroscience Institute’s Stroke Center makes it easy for you to take the first steps in ensuring the best neurological and neurosurgical care for yourself or your family. Simply email us at neuro@nshs.edu, call us at (516) 562-3064 or fill out our Request an Appointmentform.