Stroke Center Quality & Safety

At UVA Health's Comprehensive Stroke Center, delivering the highest-quality healthcare to our patients is our top priority. Achieving our goals for safety and excellence means working continuously to improve the care we provide. Our teams meet regularly to evaluate and improve our care.

We believe you should have this information to help you make informed decisions about where to seek care.  

Sharing information about the quality of care we provide and looking at lessons learned is an important part of developing a team focus on patient safety.

Initial Treatment After Stroke

The majority of strokes are ischemic. That means they happen when a blood clot, a thick clump of blood, blocks a blood vessel and stops blood from reaching the brain. There are two types of stroke treatment, administering thrombolytics or performing mechanical thrombectomy that can both be offered to someone having an ischemic stroke. Tenecteplase (TNK), is a thrombolytic medication that stops an ischemic stroke by breaking up the blood clot so blood can reach the brain again. Mechanical Thrombectomy, is the process of removing that blood clot with a mechanical device to restore blood flow to the brain. The earlier a patient receives these treatments,TNK,  the more likely they are to survive and make a full recovery.

Before they give a patient TNK, stroke team members have to complete several steps, including a neurological assessment, a CAT or CT scan of the brain, bloodwork, and more. Pharmacists also have to prepare the medication. Stroke team members work to complete these steps as quickly so they can give patients TNK as soon as possible. We track the percentage of eligible patients that receive this clot-busting drug and compare it to other like hospitals: the percentage of patients who get to UVA Health within 2 hours of “last known well” (defined as the last time they were known to not have symptoms) and receive TNK within 3 hours of that last known well.

Percentage of Eligible Stroke Patients Who Received Clot-Busting Drug Within 30 Minutes

A higher number is better.

Additional CT imaging is completed to look at the brain’s blood vessels and determine if there is a clot that can be removed. These eligible patients are quickly taken to a procedure room where a provider inserts a catheter into an artery of the groin or wrist and guides it up to the clot to remove it. We track the amount of time it takes to get this procedure done for eligible patients and compare it to other like hospitals.

Median Times of Eligible Stroke Patients Getting Thrombectomy After Arriving From an Outside Facility

A lower number is better.

Median Times of Eligible Stroke Patients Getting Thrombectomy After Arriving at Our Emergency Department

A lower number is better.

We also track the percentage of patients who achieve the return of blood flow (reperfusion) to the brain after thrombectomy and compare it to other like hospitals.

Percentage of Stroke Patients Who Achieve Reperfusion With Thrombectomy

A higher number is better.

Carotid endarterectomy is a surgery to clean the carotid artery to help prevent stroke. We measure the percentage of patients who undergo this surgery and do not have complications during or after surgery.

Carotid Endarterectomy Patients Without Complications

A higher number is better.

For patients with a brain aneurysm, or a weakened blood vessel in the brain that can bleed, we offer two types of procedures: clipping and coiling. Clipping is less common, but is a surgery that consists of removing part of the skull to clip the aneurysm so that blood is restored through the normal part of the blood vessel and is less likely to bleed. More commonly, aneurysms are treated by inserting coils into the aneurysm to block blood flow into that area and restore normal blood flow to the vessel. We track the percentage of these procedures that have complications.

Patients With a Coiling or Clipping Procedure Without Complications

A higher number is better.