The Queen’s Medical Center has received the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines – Coronary Artery Disease Gold Performance Achievement Award.

The award “recognizes Queen’s commitment and success in implementing a higher standard of cardiac care that effectively improves treatment of patients hospitalized with coronary artery disease,” according to a news release from the hospital.
Under the GWTG–CAD program, patients are started on aggressive risk reduction therapies such as cholesterol-lowering drugs, aspirin, ACE inhibitors and beta-blockers in the hospital and receive smoking cessation/weight management counseling as well as referrals for cardiac rehabilitation before they are discharged, the hospital sid.
Hospitals that receive the GWTG-CAD Gold Performance Achievement Award have demonstrated for 24 consecutive months that at least 85 percent of its eligible coronary patients (without contraindications) are discharged following the American Heart Association’s recommended treatment guidelines.