Abstract W P296: Establishing a Stroke Protocol Based on the Trauma Model

Abstract

Background and Purpose: In the summer of 2012, the state of Pennsylvania adopted legislation mandating EMS providers to deliver all patients with clinical signs of stroke to a certified stroke center for evaluation. In response to this change, development of a new stroke program began at a tertiary medical center located in the northeastern region of the state. The facility was a certified trauma center and also held various other disease specific certifications through the Joint Commission. This project sought to examine the needs of a newly developing primary stroke center within the context of a healthcare organization with numerous other specialized medical and surgical programs. Specifically, the investigators hoped to illustrate the similarities between stroke and other specialized services to demonstrate that many of the requirements of these programs are shared. Method: The site stroke clinical coordinator and system stroke program coordinator kept detailed records of all phases of stroke program development. As resource needs were identified, notation was made indicating whether or not those resources were already available in the hospital. By examining these records, the coordinators were able to identify how many of the resources needed to develop an effective stroke program were already present within the system. Results: Information was collected beginning at the inception of program development in 2012 through the time of application for Joint Commission Primary Stroke Center certification in August of 2013. During these 9 months, many of the needed resources were found to already exist in the facility, with most having been created or added as a result of the hospital’s trauma program development several years earlier. Conclusion: The hospital was able to develop a high performing stroke center with comparative ease due to the preexisting resources from the institution’s trauma program. It is the belief of the stroke team that these results could be easily duplicated in other facilities with trauma services that wish to expand into stroke specialization as well.