Abstract TP219: Can Pre-hospital Intervention Improve Rural Stroke Care?

Background: In the stroke belt, local rural hospitals have reported 29 - 32% tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) treatment within 60 minutes for ischemic strokes. Since 2008, telemedicine has improved the door to treatment time from 120+ minutes to 70 minutes. A six month pilot program was initiated to determine the feasibility of a pre-hospital intervention to reach the American Stroke Association (ASA) target of 50% treatment within 60 minutes. Nine rural hospital sites were designated as Stroke Ready Hospitals (SRHs). Local emergency medical service (EMS) providers to these sites received additional education to evaluate and transport suspected stroke patients to the SRH in their area. The study also evaluated the early acute hospital patient care for improvements in treatment rates and data reporting at each SRH site. Hypothesis: Within six months, the SRHs will have 30-50% improvement rates in pre-notification by their local EMS providers and these will correspond to decreased triage time. Methods: Th...