Abstract TP286: Efficacy of Quality Improvement Protocols Across Diverse Modes of Arrival for Thrombectomy Patients With Ischemic Stroke

Abstract

Background: Quality improvement protocols (QI) aim to reduce in-hospital delays that result in prolonged door-to-groin-puncture time (DGPT) for the endovascular treatment of ischemic stroke. At our institution, we implemented a comprehensive QI protocol to reduce DGPT from June 2015 to December 2016. Here we discuss the QI protocol on DGPT across diverse modes of arrival to our interventional suite. Methods: 61 patients underwent mechanical thrombectomy for ischemic stroke during our QI period. Independent samples t-tests were used to investigate differences in DGPT early in the QI protocol (July 2015 to February 2016, n=30) versus late in the QI protocol (March 2016 to December 2016, n=31) for patients that presented via emergency medical services (EMS), inpatient, and hospital transfers. Results: Each mode of arrival demonstrated reductions in DGPT (Figure 1). The greatest reduction in DGPT was for the 23 patients within the emergency medical services (EMS) group with a mean reduction of 39 minutes which approached, but didn’t achieve, statistical significance (138 vs. 99; p=0.06). Discussion: QI interventions impact DGPT across different patient arrival methods. QI protocols accounting for patient presentation allow tailored approaches to institutional measures to reduce DGPT.