Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital

Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation

Hospital is proud to be the only hospital in Middle Tennessee to earn The Joint Commission Gold Seal of Approval™ for stroke rehabilitation. This respected certification is a direct reflection of our commitment to provide comprehensive treatment programs to help patients reach maximum outcomes. To earn this distinction, a disease management program undergoes an extensive, unannounced, on-site evaluation by a team of Joint Commission reviewers every two years. The program is evaluated against Joint Commission standards through an assessment of a program’s processes, the program’s ability to evaluate and improve care within its own organization, and interviews with patients and staff.

The Joint Commission Accreditation

By demonstrating compliance with The Joint Commission’s national standards for health care quality and safety, Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital has earned The Joint Commission’s Gold Seal of Approval™.

Founded in 1951, The Joint Commission is dedicated to continuously improving the safety and quality of the nation's health care through voluntary accreditation. An independent, not-for-profit organization, The Joint Commission is the nation's oldest and largest standards-setting and accrediting body in health care.

The Joint Commission evaluates and accredits nearly 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.

Stroke Rehabilitation Center of Excellence

Vanderbilt Stallworth Rehabilitation Hospital is proud to be a Stroke Rehabilitation Center of Excellence.

The Stroke Rehabilitation Center of Excellence designation is a rigorous internal recognition program that highlights the accomplishments of HealthSouth Hospitals that have exceeded established benchmarks in clinical programming and patient outcomes for the treatment of stroke.

Some of those benchmarks include the program being led by a board-certified physician with expertise and specialized training in stroke. The hospital's medical staff includes specialty physicians in the areas of neurology, cardiology, gastroenterology, urology, and pulmonary and internal medicine.

Stroke Rehabilitation Centers of Excellence employ treatment teams of specially trained clinicians in the areas of physical, occupational and speech therapies, in addition to nursing. These treatment teams meet weekly to develop individualized course of treatment for patients. the course of treatment could include a combination of the following specialty programs: cognitive retraining, behavior management, comprehensive spasticity management, neuropsychological testing and treatment, augmentative communication, driving education, and gait and balance, training.

Stroke teams also meet with patient and family to obtain in put for the plan of care. Structured family education series provide caregivers disease-specific information on prevention, medication management and coping strategies.

Stroke Rehabilitation Centers of Excellence provide discharge planning and continuing education initiatives to stroke patients in the form of vocational and community re-entry education, transitional living, home evaluations and therapeutic home visits. Stroke support groups are also available to patients for follow-up care every other month.

Spinal Cord Injury Rehabilitation Program Certification from The Joint Commission

Vanderbilt Stallworth's Spinal Cord Injury program has earned the Gold Seal of Approval™ for health care quality and has been awarded The Joint Commission's Disease-Specific Care Certification.

To earn this distinction, a disease management program undergoes an extensive on-site evaluation by a team of Joint Commission reviewers every two years. The program is evaluated against Joint Commission standards through an assessment of a program's processes, the program's ability to evaluate and improve care within its own organization, and interviews with patients and staff.

"This certification means Stallworth does the right things and does them well for Spinal Cord Injury patients," says Jean E. Range, M.S., R.N., C.P.H.Q., executive director, Disease-Specific Care Certification, Joint Commission.

"Stallworth voluntarily pursued this comprehensive, independent evaluation to enhance the safety and quality of care we provide," says Susan Heath, CEO. "We're proud to achieve this distinction and be the only rehabilitation hospital with this certification in Tennessee and one of only five in the entire nation."

Dr. Tom Groomes, Board Certified, Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, is the program medical director of the SCI team. He also holds sub-specialty certification in spinal cord injury from the American PM&R Board.

The Joint Commission launched its Disease-Specific Care Certification program in 2002. It is the first program of its kind in the country to certify disease management programs. A list of programs certified by the Joint Commission is available at www.jointcommission.org.