• J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · Jul 2016

    Comparative Study

    Impact of Prehospital Intervention on Delay Time to Thrombolytic Therapy in a Stroke Center with a Systemized Stroke Code Program.

    • Dae-Hyun Kim, Hyun-Wook Nah, Hyun-Seok Park, Jae-Hyung Choi, Myong-Jin Kang, Jae-Taeck Huh, and Jae-Kwan Cha.
    • Busan-Ulsan Regional Cardiocerebrovascular Center, Dong-A University Hospital, Busan, Republic of Korea; Department of Neurology, College of Medicine, Dong-A University, Busan, Republic of Korea. Electronic address: kdh6542@hanmail.net.
    • J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2016 Jul 1; 25 (7): 1665-1670.

    BackgroundThe use of emergency medical services (EMS) and notification to hospitals by paramedics for patients with suspected stroke are crucial determinants in reducing delay time to acute stroke treatment. The aim of this study is to investigate whether EMS use and prehospital notification (PN) can shorten the time to thrombolytic therapy in a stroke center with a systemized stroke code program.MethodsBeginning in January 2012, stroke experts in our stroke center received direct calls via mobile phone from paramedics prenotifying the transport of patients with suspected stroke. We compared baseline characteristics and prehospital/in-hospital delay time in stroke patients treated with intravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator for 44 months with and without EMS use and/or PN.ResultsIntravenous thrombolytic therapy was performed on 274 patients. Of those patients, 215 (78.5%) were transported to the hospital via EMS and 59 (21.5%) were admitted via private modes of transportation. The patients who used EMS had shorter median onset-to-arrival times (62 minutes versus 116 minutes, P < .001). There was no difference in in-hospital delay time between the 2 groups. In 28 cases (13%) of EMS transport, EMS personnel called the clinical staff to notify the incoming patient. Prenotification by EMS was associated with shorter median door-to-imaging time (9 minutes versus 12 minutes, P = .045) and door-to-needle time (20 minutes versus 29 minutes, P = .011).ConclusionsWe found that EMS use reduces prehospital delay time. However, EMS use without prenotification does not shorten in-hospital processing time in a stroke center with a systemized stroke code program.Copyright © 2016. Published by Elsevier Inc.

      Pubmed     Full text   Copy Citation     Plaintext  

      Add institutional full text...

    Notes

     
    Knowledge, pearl, summary or comment to share?
    300 characters remaining
    help        
    You can also include formatting, links, images and footnotes in your notes
    • Simple formatting can be added to notes, such as *italics*, _underline_ or **bold**.
    • Superscript can be denoted by <sup>text</sup> and subscript <sub>text</sub>.
    • Numbered or bulleted lists can be created using either numbered lines 1. 2. 3., hyphens - or asterisks *.
    • Links can be included with: [my link to pubmed](http://pubmed.com)
    • Images can be included with: ![alt text](https://bestmedicaljournal.com/study_graph.jpg "Image Title Text")
    • For footnotes use [^1](This is a footnote.) inline.
    • Or use an inline reference [^1] to refer to a longer footnote elseweher in the document [^1]: This is a long footnote..

    hide…