BackgroundFew studies have discussed the emergency call and prehospital care as a continuous process to decrease the prehospital and in‐hospital delays for acute stroke. To identify features associated with early hospital arrival (<90 minutes) and treatment (<120 minutes), we analyzed the operation of current dispatch protocol and emergency medical services and compared stroke recognition by dispatchers and ambulance crews.Methods and ResultsThis was a 2‐year prospective observational study. All stroke patients who were transported to the hospital by emergency medical services and received recanalization therapy were recruited for the study. For a sample of 308 patients, the stroke code was activated in 206 (67%) and high priority was used in 258 (84%) of the emergency calls. Emergency medical services transported 285 (93%) of the patients using the stroke code and 269 (87%) using high priority. In the univariate analysis, the most dominant predictors of early hospital arrival were transport using stroke code (P=0.001) and high priority (P=0.002) and onset‐to‐call (P<0.0001) and on‐scene times (P=0.052). In the regression analysis, the influences of high‐priority transport (P<0.01) and onset‐to‐call time (P<0.001) prevailed as significant in both dichotomies of early arrival and treatment. The on‐scene time was found to be surprisingly long (>23.5 minutes) for both early and late‐arriving patients.ConclusionsFast emergency medical services activation and ambulance transport promoted early hospital arrival and treatment. Although patient‐dependent delays still dominate the prehospital process, it should be ensured that the minutes on the scene are well spent.
Objectives: The aim was to determine if an intensive restructuring of the approach to acute stroke improved time to thrombolysis over a 3-year study period and to determine whether delay modifications correlated with increased thrombolytic intervention or functional outcome. Methods:The study examined the pretreatment process to define specific time intervals (delays) of interest in the acute management of 289 consecutive ischemic stroke patients who were transported by the emergency medical services (EMS) and received intravenous (IV) thrombolytic therapy in the emergency department (ED) of Helsinki University Central Hospital. Time interval changes of the 3-year period and use of thrombolytics was measured. Functional outcome, measured with the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) at 3 months, was assessed with multivariable statistical analysis.Results: During implementation of the restructuring program from 2003 to 2005, the median total time delay from symptom onset to drug administration dropped from 149 to 112 minutes (p < 0.0001). Prehospital delays did not change significantly during the study period. The median delay in calling an ambulance remained at 13 minutes, and the total median prehospital delay stayed at 71 minutes. In-hospital delays decreased from 67 to 34 minutes (p < 0.0001). The median call delay was 25 minutes in patients with mild symptoms (National Institute of Health Stroke Scale [NIHSS] score < 7) and 8 minutes with severe symptoms (NIHSS > 15). In the multivariate model, stroke severity (odds ratio [OR] = 0.83, 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.78 to 0.88, p < 0.0001), age (OR = 0.57, 95% CI = 0.42 to 0.77, p < 0.0001), and in-hospital delay (OR = 0.47, 95% CI = 0.22 to 0.97, p = 0.04) were suggesting a good outcome. Conclusions:Restructuring of the teamwork between the EMS personnel and the reorganized ED significantly reduced in-hospital, but not prehospital, delays. The present data suggest that a decreased in-hospital delay improves the accessibility of the benefits of thrombolysis.ACADEMIC EMERGENCY MEDICINE 2010; 17:965-969 ª
Implementation of the emergency medical services training program successfully decreased the OST of thrombolysis candidates by 10%. Higher expertise level of the ambulance crew was associated with shorter OST, and decisions to consult a physician via telephone were reflected by longer OST.
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