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2025 Magnet® Redesignation Feedback

The Magnet® designation for nursing excellence from the American Nurses Credentialing Center is the pre-eminent recognition for hospital systems in the United States.

ChristianaCare Health System was designated as a Magnet organization in 2010, 2015, and 2020 by the ANCC Magnet Recognition Program® and are now applying for redesignation.

We invite patients, family members, staff, and other interested parties to provide feedback via email or direct mail. For more information, please click here.

Stroke Program

About Our Stroke Program

Excellence in Stroke Care Advanced Treatment

Excellence in Stroke Care

The ChristianaCare Stroke Program includes services at Christiana Hospital, Wilmington Hospital, and the freestanding Middletown Emergency Department.

All three facilities have been awarded by The Joint Commission, a national certifying organization. Christiana Hospital has been recognized as a Comprehensive Stroke Center, the most advanced level of expertise in stroke care by The Joint Commission. Wilmington Hospital has been awarded as a Primary Stroke Center. Middletown Emergency Department has been awarded as an Acute Stroke Ready Hospital.

Our program provides 24-7 availability of expertise in stroke care including neurologists, neurosurgeons, and neurointerventional radiologists. For patients who arrive within a few hours of the start of stroke symptoms, we offer a full range of emergency treatment options including medications and advanced surgical techniques to restore blood flow to the brain and prevent further brain injury.

Our expert physicians staff both The Lanny Edelsohn, M.D. Neuro Critical Care Unit, an 18-bed specialized intensive care unit for patients critically ill from severe stroke, and the 22 single bed Stroke Treatment and Recovery (STAR) unit, where patients prepare to leave the hospital and resume a healthy life. Nurses specially trained in stroke care work with patients and their families to maximize recovery in both the Neuro Critical Care and STAR units.

Patients are evaluated and treated by rehabilitation teams skilled in physical, occupational, speech, and cognitive therapies. We address each patient’s specific, individual needs for maximum recovery, and focus on patient and family goals in addition to the latest medical therapies for stroke. Dedicated case managers and social workers assist in the transition from the hospital to the next step in recovery. After leaving the hospital, expert consultation and continued care is provided by vascular (stroke) neurologists and rehabilitation specialists in the office setting.

Advanced Treatment for Stroke

The care team of the ChristianaCare Comprehensive Stroke Program offers our patients the most advanced stroke treatment options.

In stroke treatment, time lost is brain lost. One standard treatment for stroke due to blockage of blood flow is a clotdissolving medication. The faster you are treated with this medication, the more likely you will remain independent after a stroke. In 2023 and 2024 (through Sept), patients who arrived at ChristianaCare emergency department sites received this medication on average within 28 minutes, which is faster than the goal time set by the American Stroke Association of 30 minutes or less. More than 90% of eligible patients received this medication within 30 minutes of arrival. Calling 9-1-1 at the first sign of a stroke will help Emergency Medical Services and the ChristianaCare Stroke Team to work together to treat a stroke as quickly as possible.

For some severe strokes, when a very large blood vessel is blocked, a second treatment option is a mechanical thrombectomy. This minimally invasive procedure involves the physical removal of the blood clot from the blood vessel within the brain itself. When this procedure is performed at Christiana Hospital, our neuro-interventional surgeons can successfully remove the blood clot and restore blood flow above 89% of the time. (In technical terms, TICI 2b/3 reperfusion during mechanical thrombectomy for acute ischemic stroke this year to date.) We collaborate with other hospitals in the region to offer this service when needed to all stroke patients throughout our community, regardless of where they live.

For the Love of Health Podcast

Every minute that a brain is not getting blood flow during a stroke, millions of neurons are dying. Learn how a drive to be exceptional today and even better tomorrow is leading to drastically better outcomes for patients who come to one of the nation’s highest volume stroke programs, on the ChristianaCare podcast, For the Love of Health.

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