Mount Sinai Queens Certified As Queens' 1st Stroke Center

Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens last month earned Joint Commission Certification as Queens' first and to date only Primary Stroke Center, a designation which it shares with The Mount Sinai Hospital Stroke Center in Manhattan.

Mount Sinai Hospital Queens has earned the Joint Commission Certification as a Primary Stroke Center after an onsite review during March 2008. Mount Sinai Hospital Queens is the first and only hospital in Queens to receive this designation, which it shares with The Mount Sinai Hospital Stroke Center in Manhattan.

The Joint Commission's Disease- Specific Care Certification provides a comprehensive evaluation of stroke services. The evaluation and certification are based upon compliance with standards published by the Brain Attack Coalition and the American Stroke Association.

Time is critical to achieving optimal outcomes, and with this end in mind, the Stroke Team was established in 1998. Mount Sinai Queens received New York State Department of Health (NYSDOH) Stroke Certification in 2004, with subsequent recertifications.

"Mount Sinai Queens' designation as a Joint Commission Stroke Center continues our commitment to deliver excellent care always to our neighbors throughout Queens," Caryn Schwab, Mount Sinai Queens executive director, said.

"Mount Sinai's success is a testament to the outstanding teamwork among our dedicated providers and staff across the Manhattan and Queens campuses," Dr. Kenneth L. Davis, Mount Sinai Medical Center President and CEO, said. "Having both Joint Commission and NYSDOH designations reinforces that the Mount Sinai Stroke Center provides the highest quality of comprehensive patient care."

Mount Sinai Hospital cemented its longstanding commitment to the borough of Queens with the purchase of Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens in June 1999. This hospital has served the community of Western Queens for almost 100 years, first as Daly's Astoria Sanatorium, then Astoria General Hospital and Western Queens Community Hospital, and now as Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens. Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens is the first and only community hospital to bear the prestigious Mount Sinai name. The hospital's overarching goal has been to combine the medical excellence of the Mount Sinai Hospital with the compassionate, caring environment expected from a community hospital.

Today, Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens, a 235-bed licensed acute care facility, provides adult medical and surgical services with a team of nearly 400 voluntary physicians representing 36 specialties. Between the physicians and staff, 50 languages are spoken, one of the many ways that Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens serves the needs of the culturally diverse population in its community.

In addition to the main hospital setting, the hospital serves the community through:

• Family Health Associates, providing both primary and specialty care,

• Mount Sinai Queens Physician Associates, providing primary and specialty care to adults,

• Ambulatory Surgery Center, a hospital based outpatient surgery center,

• Workplace Wellness, providing the business community with facilitated access to a wide range of hospital services, occupational health and wellness programs.

In keeping with the Mount Sinai tradition of ongoing research, achievement and reinvestment in the community, Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens continues to grow. In total, more than $30 million has been reinvested to improve facilities and upgrade technology. Among Mount Sinai's key investments and achievements are:

• Emergency Department

Optimization

In addition to a complete physical renovation of the Emergency Department, the first Electronic Medical Record system in a direct patient-care environment has been implemented at Mount Sinai Hospital Queens. Paperless Emergency Department systems interface with the hospital's other clinical information systems. This improves patient care through efficient and more complete access to any needed patient data.

• Stroke Center Designation

Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens participated in a pilot program to determine the effectiveness of early recognition and treatment of stroke and was designated a stroke center by the New York State Department of Health. Key elements of the program include educating emergency service personnel about the signs of stroke and how to conduct a pre-hospital assessment, as well as designating specific hospitals as stroke treatment centers. Stroke treatment centers follow specific protocols when evaluating and treating stroke patients. Screening community residents for stroke risk and educating them about stroke warning signs augment the program's clinical components.

• Imaging Expansion and Upgrade

Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens has opened a new imaging center conveniently located on the first floor. This attractive, state-of-the-art center houses Mount Sinai Queens' MRI and second CT scan device so that the community has easy access to the latest imaging advances. This is an enhancement to existing imaging modalities mammography, sonography/ echocardiography, nuclear medicine and traditional x-ray. In addition, Mount Sinai Queens is also totally filmless with the implementation of PACS and RIS.

• Focus on the Elderly

Mount Sinai Queens is part of Nurses Improving Care for Health System Elders (NICHE), a nationwide effort developed to meet the needs of acutely ill older patients and their families, and to promote best practices and geriatric nursing in acute-care settings. Mount Sinai Queens is emulating a specific program model Acute Care of the Elderly (ACE). Key elements of the program are pressure ulcer prevention, fall prevention and focused assessment.

• BEST Labor/Management

Partnership

Building Excellence for Success Together (BEST) has as its goal making Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens "a great place to work, a great place to get care and a great place to practice medicine". This initiative includes all staff and introduces tools such as making hourly rounds on patients, reward and recognition programs and enhanced communication, all intended to enhance employee and patient satisfaction.

Community outreach efforts include the launch this year of Get Healthy Queens, a program designed to empower people to take control of their health. Get Healthy Queens focuses on lifestyle changes and the necessity of good health care, giving people simple, easily accomplished steps to follow. The program is supported by Mount Sinai Queens' series of useful and informative lectures, screenings, and workshops. These events are communicated through newspaper ads and a quarterly calendar mailed to more than 70,000 households.

Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens is committed to creating an environment that is comforting to patients and is conducive to the delivery of high quality care. Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens is also committed to preserving what makes Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens so special: the quality of caring provided by the staff, family atmosphere and easy accessibility and convenience.

Mount Sinai Hospital of Queens In 2007