E-109 Code stroke alert – development of a new open-source platform to streamline acute stroke care

Background Effective, time-critical intervention is crucial to mitigate stroke mortality and morbidity but is often hampered by systemic pre- or in-hospital delays. In the era of rapid reperfusion therapy for ischaemic stroke, there is urgent need to improve multi-disciplinary communication to synchronise and coordinate rapid clinical, imaging assessment, and therapeutic decision making across the entire stroke journey from initial emergency medical service (EMS) assessment to in-hospital assessment and treatment. Purpose To develop an open source multi-platform application that provides a purpose-built, efficient, user-friendly communication system that links pre-hospital emergency services, stroke and neuro-interventional teams, aiming to reduce the time from first medical contact to cerebral reperfusion time. Method/results The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA) compliant, open-source platform can be accessed by EMS and hospital staff involved in acute stroke care. When a new stroke alert is lodged by EMS, the application will prompt calculation of relevant clinical scores that aid decision making. Depending on the patient’s clinical status, an appropriate hospital is recommended and will be pre-notified of impending stroke patient arrival. Empowered by geotagging, an estimated time of arrival is broadcast to all relevant team members, ensuring effective communication between teams. Conclusion Code Stroke Alert streamlines communication and coordination of stroke care, possibly negating any room for errors. This facilitates and accelerates the logistical processes required to achieve reperfusion, potentially improving patient outcome. The platform will be available free to health networks globally to expedite treatment and improve quality and safety of stroke care. The open-source nature of the software may promote future development of plug-ins and add-ons based on individual institutional needs, e.g. for Hospital Information System (HIS) or Picture Archive Communication System (PACS) integration. In addition, data logs are created, with an auditable trail of all relevant quality improvement metrics with a view to overall system quality improvement. Disclosures H. Seah: None. B. Coulton: None. M. Burney: None. J. Maingard: None. C. Barras: None. H. Kok: None. B. Tahayori: None. R. Chandra: None. V. Thijs: None. M. Brooks: None. H. Asadi: None.