Abstract
Introduction: Effective, time-critical intervention in acute stroke is crucial to mitigate mortality rate and morbidity, but delivery of reperfusion treatments is often hampered by pre-, in-, or inter-hospital system level delays. Disjointed, repetitive, and inefficient communication is a consistent contributor to avoidable treatment delay. In the era of rapid reperfusion therapy for ischemic stroke, there is a need for a communication system to synchronize the flow of clinical information across the entire stroke journey.Material/Methods: A multi-disciplinary development team designed an electronic communications platform, integrated between web browsers and a mobile application, to link all relevant members of the stroke treatment pathway. The platform uses tiered notifications, geotagging, incorporates multiple clinical score calculators, and is compliant with security regulations. The system safely saves relevant information for audit and research.Results: Code Stroke Alert is a platform that can be accessed by emergency medical services (EMS) and hospital staff, coordinating the flow of information during acute stroke care, reducing duplication, and error in clinical information handover. Electronic data logs provide an auditable trail of relevant quality improvement metrics, facilitating quality improvement, and research.Discussion: Code Stroke Alert will be freely available to health networks globally. The open-source nature of the software offers valuable potential for future development of plug-ins and add-ons, based on individual institutional needs. Prospective, multi-site implementation, and measurement of clinical impact are underway.
Highlights
Effective, time-critical intervention in acute stroke is crucial to mitigate mortality rate and morbidity, but delivery of reperfusion treatments is often hampered by pre, in, or inter-hospital system level delays
We aimed to develop a novel, open-source, multi-platform communication application, named “Code Stroke Alert,” that facilitates efficient multi-cast, tiered communication during the hyperacute management stages of an ischaemic stroke
We have developed Code Stroke Alert, an Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant, open-source platform to streamline and synchronize the flow of clinical information, as it is communicated between different members of health care services during the pre-hospital, in-hospital, and inter-hospital care of patients with acute ischaemic stroke
Summary
Time-critical intervention in acute stroke is crucial to mitigate mortality rate and morbidity, but delivery of reperfusion treatments is often hampered by pre-, in-, or inter-hospital system level delays. In the era of rapid reperfusion therapy for ischemic stroke, there is a need for a communication system to synchronize the flow of clinical information across the entire stroke journey. Gold standard treatment of acute ischemic stroke relies on timely reperfusion of ischemic cerebral tissue. The two primary methods of reperfusion are thrombolysis using intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (IV tPA) and mechanical thrombectomy. These therapies have been proven to be effective in several randomized clinical trials and meta-analyses [1,2,3]. The effect of time to reperfusion with mechanical thrombectomy was directly proportional to patient outcome [5,6,7]. It is estimated that every 1-min reduction in the interval between stroke onset and start of mechanical thrombectomy results in an additional week of healthy living [8]
Sign-in/Register to view highlights & summary Talk to us
Join us for a 30 min session where you can share your feedback and ask us any queries you have
Schedule a callDisclaimer: All third-party content on this website/platform is and will remain the property of their respective owners and is provided on "as is" basis without any warranties, express or implied. Use of third-party content does not indicate any affiliation, sponsorship with or endorsement by them. Any references to third-party content is to identify the corresponding services and shall be considered fair use under The CopyrightLaw.
