QJM : monthly journal of the Association of Physicians
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Multicenter Study
Do centres with well-developed protocols, training and infrastructure have higher rates of thrombolysis for acute ischaemic stroke?
The introduction of intravenous thrombolysis with recombinant tissue Plasminogen Activator (rt-PA) has greatly improved the effectiveness of acute ischaemic stroke care. However, in most hospitals only 2-10% of all admitted stroke patients are treated with thrombolysis. ⋯ Extramural training and intramural protocols are important tools to increase thrombolysis rates for acute ischaemic stroke in hospitals. Intramural protocols and extramural training should be aimed at all relevant professionals.
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Hospital admissions for acute recreational drug toxicity are coded using the International Classification of Diseases (ICD-10) coding system. It is unclear how these admissions are coded, as often there are no specific ICD-10 codes for the drug(s) involved. This study was undertaken to determine how acute recreational drug toxicity admissions are routinely coded. ⋯ Hospital admissions due to recreational drugs without specific ICD-10 codes are assigned a wide variety of primary codes and/or the use of recreational drugs may not be coded. Further work is needed to look at methods of capturing presentations to hospital with acute recreational drug toxicity, either by updating the ICD codes or using a more time-responsive data capture system in sentinel hospitals in the UK to monitor trends in acute recreational drug toxicity.