Abstract T P260: Confirmation: The Target Stroke Best Practice Strategies Work

Stroke ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 46 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Nojan Valadi ◽  
Alexis Thomas

Background: A recent national push for optimizing stroke center performance led by the efforts of AHA/ASA to recognize high performers with the Target Stroke Honor Roll recognition have focused on achieving expedited treatment for stroke with door-to-needle (DTN) time of ≤60 minutes.Our organization recognized the need to optimize our performance and set an initial goal of achieving DTN time of ≤60 minutes in greater than 50% of our patients. The Target Stroke Initiative by the AHA/ASA identified 10 key strategies for best practice associated with reducing DTN times. Our organization adopted and implemented all of these strategies over a 30-day period. Methods: The Target Stroke best practice strategies were implemented over a 30-day period, and the Stroke Team worked collaboratively to identify other weaknesses needing to be addressed. DTN times ≤60 minutes from the 12 months prior to process improvement implementation were compared with the first 2 months post implementation. Results: There were 345 ischemic stroke patients treated at our facility during the 12 month period prior to the process implementation, with a total of 14 patients (1.12 per month) treated with tPA. The percentage of patients treated with tPA was 4%, and the percentage of patients treated with DTN ≤60 minutes was 0%. Over the two months following process implementation, 68 ischemic stroke patients were treated at our facility, with 11 patients treated with tPA (5.5 per month). The percentage of stroke patients treated with tPA was 16%, with 70% of patients treated with DTN ≤60 minutes. Conclusion: This study serves as confirmation that collaboration and implementation of the 10 key strategies for best practice as outlined by the Target Stroke Initiative, coupled with changes to identified areas of weakness, can improve and expedite the care of patients with acute ischemic stroke. This can substantially improve DTN times, as well as the overall number and percentage of patients that receive thrombolysis with a hopeful impact on their outcome as well as Target Stroke Honor Roll recognition for the facility. In conclusion, we recommend implementation of these best practice strategies to other facilities.

Stroke ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 45 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Kerrin Connelly ◽  
Rishi Gupta ◽  
Raul Nogueira ◽  
Arthur Yancey ◽  
Alexander Isakov ◽  
...  

Purpose: To standardize the care of acute stroke patients who receive IV tPA being transported by ground EMS from a treating hospital to a stroke center. Background: National consensus guidelines exist for the hospital management of patients receiving IV tPA for acute ischemic stroke. Such patients require close monitoring and management to minimize risk of clinical deterioration. Although patients are often emergently transported from local hospitals to a stroke center, there are no treatment specific national guidelines for managing such patients enroute. As a result, there is a need to develop and implement a standardized approach to guide EMS personnel, particularly in states like Georgia where the public health burden of stroke is high. Methods: In 2012, the “Georgia EMS Interfacility Ground Transport Protocol for Patients during/after IV tPA Administration for Acute Ischemic Stroke” was developed in conjunction with the Georgia Coverdell Acute Stroke Registry, the Georgia State Office of EMS, a representative group of Georgia hospitals and EMS providers. Stakeholders were brought together with the goal of creating a unified statewide protocol. The intent was to create a streamlined protocol which could be readily implemented by pre-hospital care providers. Results: Stakeholders discussed challenges and opportunities to change the process of pre-hospital care. Challenges included recognition of the broad diversity of EMS providers representing over 250 agencies in the state. Opportunities included establishing the framework for greater collaboration across organizations and providers. The final protocol was endorsed by both the Georgia Coverdell Acute Stroke Registry and the State Office of EMS, and distributed to all EMS regions in Georgia. EMS agencies are currently implementing the protocol. Conclusion: Engaging a diverse group of statewide stakeholders to develop a new treatment protocol enhances success in implementation and serves to further the public health mission of improving care of acute stroke patients.


2009 ◽  
Vol 1 ◽  
pp. JCNSD.S2221
Author(s):  
Byron R. Spencer ◽  
Omar M. Khan ◽  
Bentley J. Bobrow ◽  
Bart M. Demaerschalk

Background Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is a vital link in the overall chain of stroke survival. A Primary Stroke Center (PSC) relies heavily on the 9-1-1 response system along with the ability of EMS personnel to accurately diagnose acute stroke. Other critical elements include identifying time of symptom onset, providing pre-hospital care, selecting a destination PSC, and communicating estimated time of arrival (ETA). Purpose Our purpose was to evaluate the EMS component of thrombolysed acute ischemic stroke patient care at our PSC. Methods In a retrospective manner we retrieved electronic copies of the EMS incident reports for every thrombolysed ischemic stroke patient treated at our PSC from September 2001 to August 2005. The following data elements were extracted: location of victim, EMS agency, times of dispatch, scene, departure, emergency department (ED) arrival, recordings of time of stroke onset, blood pressure (BP), heart rate (HR), cardiac rhythm, blood glucose (BG), Glasgow Coma Scale (GCS), Cincinnati Stroke Scale (CSS) elements, emergency medical personnel field assessment, and transport decision making. Results Eighty acute ischemic stroke patients received thrombolysis during the study interval. Eighty-one percent arrived by EMS. Two EMS agencies transported to our PSC. Mean dispatch-to-scene time was 6 min, on-scene time was 16 min, transport time was 10 min. Stroke onset time was recorded in 68%, BP, HR, and cardiac rhythm each in 100%, BG in 81%, GCS in 100%, CSS in 100%, and acute stroke diagnosis was made in 88%. Various diagnostic terms were employed: cerebrovascular accident in 40%, unilateral weakness or numbness in 20%, loss of consciousness in 16%, stroke in 8%, other stroke terms in 4%. In 87% of incident reports there was documentation of decision-making to transport to the nearest PSC in conjunction with pre-notification. Conclusion The EMS component of thrombolysed acute ischemic stroke patients care at our PSC appeared to be very good overall. Diagnostic accuracy was excellent, field assessment, decision-making, and transport times were very good. There was still room for improvement in documentation of stroke onset and in employment of a common term for acute stroke.


2018 ◽  
Vol 8 (1) ◽  
pp. 69-82
Author(s):  
Mohammad El-Ghanem ◽  
Francisco E. Gomez ◽  
Prateeka Koul ◽  
Rolla Nuoman ◽  
Justin G. Santarelli ◽  
...  

Background: Traditionally, patients undergoing acute ischemic strokes were candidates for mechanical thrombectomy if they were within the 6-h window from onset of symptoms. This timeframe would exclude many patient populations, such as wake-up strokes. However, the most recent clinical trials, DAWN and DEFUSE3, have expanded the window of endovascular treatment for acute ischemic stroke patients to within 24 h from symptom onset. This expanded window increases the number of potential candidates for endovascular intervention for emergent large vessel occlusions and raises the question of how to efficiently screen and triage this increase of patients. Summary: Abbreviated pre-hospital stroke scales can be used to guide EMS personnel in quickly deciding if a patient is undergoing a stroke. Telestroke networks connect remote hospitals to stroke specialists to improve the transportation time of the patient to a comprehensive stroke center for the appropriate level of care. Mobile stroke units, mobile interventional units, and helistroke reverse the traditional hub-and-spoke model by bringing imaging, tPA, and expertise to the patient. Smartphone applications and social media aid in educating patients and the public regarding acute and long-term stroke care. Key Messages: The DAWN and DEFUSE3 trials have expanded the treatment window for certain acute ischemic stroke patients with mechanical thrombectomy and subsequently have increased the number of potential candidates for endovascular intervention. This expansion brings patient screening and triaging to greater importance, as reducing the time from symptom onset to decision-to-treat and groin puncture can better stroke patient outcomes. Several strategies have been employed to address this issue by reducing the time of symptom onset to decision-to-treat time.


Author(s):  
Thomas V. Kodankandath ◽  
Paul Wright ◽  
Paul M. Power ◽  
Marcella De Geronimo ◽  
Richard B. Libman ◽  
...  

Stroke ◽  
2013 ◽  
Vol 44 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Amelia K Boehme ◽  
Andre D Kumar ◽  
Adrianne M Dorsey ◽  
James E Siegler ◽  
Michael J Lyerly ◽  
...  

Introduction: To date, few studies have assessed the influence of infection on neurological deterioration (ND) and other outcome measures in acute ischemic stroke. Methods: Patients admitted to our stroke center (07/08-12/10) were retrospectively assessed. Patients were excluded if they had an in-hospital stroke, unknown time of symptom onset, or delay from symptom onset to hospital arrival >48 hours. Positive blood or urine culture, or chest x-ray consistent with pneumonia were classified as infection and stratified according to whether the infection was diagnosed within the first 24 hours of admission or after 24 hours. ND was defined as an increase ≥2 points on the NIHSS score within a 24hr period. Poor functional outcome was defined as a mRS score of 3-6 on discharge. Results: Of the 334 patients included in this study, 78 had an infection (19 on admission). The majority of infections were found in the urinary tract (64%), while pneumonia (37%) and bacteremia (24%) were also common. Infection on admission was predictive of ND (Table 1; OR=2.79, 95% CI 1.18-6.64, p=0.0211) and poor functional outcome (OR=3.0, 95% CI 1.1-7.9, p=0.0182). Developing an infection during acute hospitalization was an even stronger predictor of ND (OR=11.9, 95% CI 5.8-24.5, p<0.0001) and poor functional outcome (OR=56.4, 95% CI 7.7-414, p<0.0001). After adjusting for age, NIHSS at baseline and glucose on admission, the development of an infection during acute hospitalization remained a significant predictor of ND (OR=8.9, 95% CI 4.2-18.6, p<0.0001) and poor functional outcome (OR=41.7, 95% CI 5.2-337.9, p=0.005) while an infection on admission was no longer predictive of ND (OR=1.5, 95%CI 0.59-3.99, p=0.3738) or poor functional outcome (OR=1.09, 95%CI 0.3-3.9, p=0.8984). Conclusion: Our data suggest that ischemic stroke patients who develop an infection during their acute hospitalization are at increased odds of experiencing ND and of being discharged with significant disability.


2020 ◽  
Vol 12 (7) ◽  
pp. 639-642 ◽  
Author(s):  
Clemens M Schirmer ◽  
Andrew J Ringer ◽  
Adam S Arthur ◽  
Mandy J Binning ◽  
W Christopher Fox ◽  
...  

BackgroundThe COVID-19 pandemic has disrupted established care paths worldwide. Patient awareness of the pandemic and executive limitations imposed on public life have changed the perception of when to seek care for acute conditions in some cases. We sought to study whether there is a delay in presentation for acute ischemic stroke patients in the first month of the pandemic in the US.MethodsThe interval between last-known-well (LKW) time and presentation of 710 consecutive patients presenting with acute ischemic strokes to 12 stroke centers across the US were extracted from a prospectively maintained quality database. We analyzed the timing and severity of the presentation in the baseline period from February to March 2019 and compared results with the timeframe of February and March 2020.ResultsThere were 320 patients in the 2-month baseline period in 2019, there was a marked decrease in patients from February to March of 2020 (227 patients in February, and 163 patients in March). There was no difference in the severity of the presentation between groups and no difference in age between the baseline and the COVID period. The mean interval from LKW to the presentation was significantly longer in the COVID period (603±1035 min) compared with the baseline period (442±435 min, P<0.02).ConclusionWe present data supporting an association between public awareness and limitations imposed on public life during the COVID-19 pandemic in the US and a delay in presentation for acute ischemic stroke patients to a stroke center.


2019 ◽  
pp. 174749301988452 ◽  
Author(s):  
Akiko Kada ◽  
Kuniaki Ogasawara ◽  
Takanari Kitazono ◽  
Kunihiro Nishimura ◽  
Nobuyuki Sakai ◽  
...  

Background Limited national-level information on temporal trends in comprehensive stroke center capabilities and their effects on acute ischemic stroke patients exists. Aims To examine trends in in-hospital outcomes of acute ischemic stroke patients and the prognostic influence of temporal changes in comprehensive stroke center capabilities in Japan. Methods This retrospective study used the J-ASPECT Diagnosis Procedure Combination database and identified 372,978 acute ischemic stroke patients hospitalized in 650 institutions between 2010 and 2016. Temporal trends in patient outcomes and recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) and mechanical thrombectomy usage were examined. Facility comprehensive stroke center capabilities were assessed using a validated scoring system (comprehensive stroke center score: 1–25 points) in 2010 and 2014. The prognostic influence of temporal comprehensive stroke center score changes on in-hospital mortality and poor outcomes (modified Rankin Scale: 3–6) at discharge were examined using hierarchical logistic regression models. Results Over time, stroke severity at admission decreased, whereas median age, sex ratio, and comorbidities remained stable. The median comprehensive stroke center score increased from 16 to 17 points. After adjusting for age, sex, comorbidities, consciousness level, and facility comprehensive stroke center score, proportion of in-hospital mortality and poor outcomes at discharge decreased (from 7.6% to 5.0%, and from 48.7% to 43.1%, respectively). The preceding comprehensive stroke center score increase (in 2010–2014) was independently associated with reduced in-hospital mortality and poor outcomes, and increased rt-PA and mechanical thrombectomy use (odds ratio (95% confidence interval): 0.97 (0.95–0.99), 0.97 (0.95–0.998), 1.07 (1.04–1.10), and 1.21 (1.14–1.28), respectively). Conclusions This nationwide study revealed six-year trends in better patient outcomes and increased use of rt-PA and mechanical thrombectomy in acute ischemic stroke. In addition to lesser stroke severity, preceding improvement of comprehensive stroke center capabilities was an independent factor associated with such trends, suggesting importance of comprehensive stroke center capabilities as a prognostic indicator of acute stroke care.


2018 ◽  
Vol 5 (2) ◽  
pp. 176-181
Author(s):  
Aldo Yuliano ◽  
Okta Argaen ◽  
Ida Suryati

Acute ischemic stroke assosiated with disability has an event incidence 10 times higher than hemoragic. rTPA trombolysis therapy is the special management of acute ischemic stroke that intends to reperfusing the brain blood vessels to prevent the serious neurological damage if it do on the window time. The nurses leave mayor role in the stroke team, so the nurses that have duty in the stroke unit specially in IGD, ICU, and HCU should have knowledge and skills to care for stroke patients, especially for acute ischemic stroke patients after rTPA therapy.  This study aims to determine the relation between nurse knowledge and attitude with nurse role in advanced management of acute ischemic stroke patients after rTPA therapy in ICU and HCU room RSSN Bukittinggi in 2018. This research used cross sectional descriptive correlation design. The sample of this research were 42 nurses in ICU and HCU RSSN Bukittinggi. This research used non probality sampling method of sampling. nurse knowledge obtained p value = 0,040, nurse attitude obtained p value = 0,002 with OR = 12,600. It was concluded that nurse knowledge and nurse attitudes were statistically related to the role of nurses in the continued management of acute ischemic stroke patients post-rTPA therapy. It is recommended to RSSN Bukittinggi to provide training on the management of rTPA therapy.  


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