Background:
Brain ischemia kills 2 million nerve cells per minute. As time elapses, the odds of favorable outcome become less likely. By providing treatment rapidly, patient outcome is markedly improved. We recognized an opportunity for improvement by shortening our door-to-needle time. The door-to-needle time is defined by the time the patient arrives in the emergency department to the time the patient receives intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV t-PA).
Methods:
We evaluated the system in place to look at opportunities for improvement. We met monthly to assess every acute stroke patient case, particularly to evaluate delays in acute stroke treatment. We analyzed the results of all the acute stroke patient cases from January 2008 to January 2012. We implemented the following interventions: staff education, reducing unnecessary CT angiogram and CT perfusion studies on patients, RN telephone triage for acute stroke patients. pre-hospital activation of the stroke team for patients exhibiting acute stroke symptoms, ED pharmacist at bedside upon patient arrival with t-PA, and placing patients on portable monitors immediately upon ED arrival.
Conclusion:
The average door-to-needle time from January 2008 to October 2011 was 1 hour and 32 minutes. After implementing the changes above, from November 2011 to January 2012, our average door-to-needle time was 38 minutes to 54 minutes, which is within the target of less than 60 minutes. By implementing these changes, we have successfully and safely reduced and improved our door-to-needle time. Monthly quality improvement meetings are on-going to assess continuing quality improvement.
Revisiting Constraint-Induced Movement Therapy: Are We Too Smitten With the Mitten? Is All Nonuse “Learned”? and Other Quandaries
