Background and Issues:
Timely recanalization of intracerebral artery occlusions is a strong predictor of functional independence and reduced mortality in acute ischemic stroke patients. Our current stroke alert process did not address a way to assemble the neuro-interventional team rapidly for these emergent cases, resulting in lengthy times from arrival to skin puncture. In an effort to improve these times, with an ultimate goal of 90 minutes or less, we created a single system pager titled “Neuro IR 911”. With one phone call, we can now simultaneously activate the entire team.
Purpose:
The purpose of this project was to improve arrival to skin puncture times by eliminating overlap of multiple staff working separately to assemble the neuro-interventional team.
Methods:
We captured arrival to skin puncture times in 29 emergency department patients with a discharge diagnosis of ischemic stroke. Descriptive statistics (mean, standard deviation, median, 25
th
and 75
th
percentiles, minimum and maximum values for continuous variables) were calculated separately by group (pre-intervention and post-intervention). These two groups were compared using the Mann Whitney test for continuous data. A result was considered statistically significant at the p<0.05 level of significance.
Results:
There was a reduction in arrival to skin puncture times but no statistical significance between pre-intervention and post-intervention groups was determined (126 minutes vs. 107 minutes respectively, p<0.4785).
Conclusions:
Streamlining the activation process using a single system pager can reduce arrival to skin puncture times, but statistical significance remains to be determined.
Inhibitory Effects of Prolonged Vibratory Stimulus on the Maximal Voluntary Contraction Force and Muscle Activity of the Triceps Brachii: An Experimental Study
