Journal of stroke and cerebrovascular diseases : the official journal of National Stroke Association
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J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · May 2013
Recent trends in inpatient mortality and resource utilization for patients with stroke in the United States: 2005-2009.
The aim of the study is to evaluate recent trends in mortality, length of stay, costs, and charges for patients admitted to the US hospitals with the principal diagnosis of stroke. ⋯ Between 2005 and 2009, in-hospital mortality for patients hospitalized with stroke improved despite increasing severity of illness. At the same time, the average charge for hospitalization increased by 28% despite unchanged cost of treatment and shorter length of stay.
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J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis · May 2013
Targeting telestroke: benchmarking time performance in telestroke consultations.
To describe the length of time physicians spend completing telestroke consultations and examine factors associated with that period. ⋯ The relatively short consult length suggests a workflow model in which acute stroke care is largely completed before telestroke consultation with a specialist rendering an expert opinion on previously gathered data performed off-line. The findings for prolonged response times indicate an area for improvement. Future workflow models for telestroke consultation will need to be reconsidered to optimize quality of care and clinical efficiency.