South Georgia Medical Center has received the Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation Gold Award for implementing specific quality improvement measures outlined by the American Heart Association for the treatment of adult patients who suffer cardiac arrests in the hospital.  The hospital has also received the Resuscitation Silver Award for its resuscitation of pediatric patients.

To qualify for the awards, hospitals must comply with the quality measures set by the American Heart & Stroke Association for two or more consecutive years.  SGMC has received the gold award consecutively for the past five years.  This is the first Silver award for resuscitating children.

More than 200,000 adults and children have an in-hospital cardiac arrest each year, according to the American Heart Association.  The Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation program was developed with the goal to save lives of those who experience in-hospital cardiac arrests through consistently following the most up-to-date research-based guidelines for treatment. Guidelines include following protocols for patient safety, medical emergency team response, effective and timely resuscitation (CPR) and post-resuscitation care.

“The team of clinical professionals at SGMC is committed to helping our patients have the best possible outcomes.  The high standards set by the American Heart Association’s Get With The Guidelines Resuscitation program measurably save lives by boosting prevention, treatment and recovery,” said Chief Medical Officer Brian Dawson, MD.

Get With The Guidelines-Resuscitation builds on the work of the American Heart Association’s National Registry of Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation originally launched in 1999 and has collected in-hospital cardiac arrest data from more than 500 hospitals. Data from the registry and the quality program give participating hospitals feedback on their resuscitation practice and patient outcomes. In addition, the data helps improve research-based guidelines for in-hospital resuscitation.