Central Triage of Acute Stroke Patients Across a Distributive Stroke Network Is Safe and Reduces Transfer Denials

Design and implementation of informatization for unified management of stroke rehabilitation in urban multi-level hospitals

Background

With the aging of the population, the prevalence and incidence of stroke in China are increasing every year. China advocates the establishment of a three-level medical service system for stroke rehabilitation, but it lacks uniform information management among all levels of medical institutions.

Objective

To achieve unified management of stroke patient rehabilitation in multilevel hospitals in the region through informatization construction.

Methods

The need for informatization of three-level stroke rehabilitation management was analyzed. Then, network connections were established, and a common rehabilitation information management system (RIMS) was developed for all levels of hospitals to enable daily stroke rehabilitation management, inter-hospitals referral, and remote video consultation. Finally, the impact on the efficiency of daily rehabilitation work, the functioning and satisfaction of stroke patients were investigated after implementing the three-level rehabilitation network.

Results

One year after implementation, 338 two-way referrals and 56 remote consultations were completed using RIMS. The stroke RIMS improved the efficiency of doctors' orders, reduced therapists' time to write medical documents, simplified statistical analysis of data and made referrals and remote consultations more convenient compared to the traditional model. The curative effect of stroke patients managed by RIMS is better than that of traditional management. Patient satisfaction with rehabilitation services in the region has increased.

Conclusion

The three-level stroke rehabilitation informatization has enabled the unified management of stroke rehabilitation in multilevel hospitals in the region. The developed RIMS improved the efficiency of daily work, improved the clinical outcomes of stroke patients, and increased patient satisfaction.

Improved access to rapid electroencephalography at a community hospital reduces inter-hospital transfers for suspected non-convulsive seizures

OBJECTIVE

Patients with suspected non-convulsive seizures are optimally evaluated with EEG. However, limited EEG infrastructure at community hospitals often necessitates transfer for long-term EEG monitoring (LTM). Novel point-of-care EEG systems could expedite management of nonconvulsive seizures and reduce unnecessary transfers. We aimed to describe the impact of rapid access to EEG using a novel EEG device with remote expert interpretation (tele-EEG) on rates of transfer for LTM.

METHODS

We retrospectively identified a cohort of patients who underwent Rapid-EEG (Ceribell Inc., Mountain View, CA) monitoring as part of a new standard-of-care at a community hospital. Rapid-EEGs were initially reviewed on-site by a community hospital neurologist before transitioning to tele-EEG review by epileptologists at an affiliated academic hospital. We compared the rate of transfer for LTM after Rapid-EEG/tele-EEG implementation to the expected rate if rapid access to EEG was unavailable.

RESULTS

Seventy-four patients underwent a total of 118 Rapid-EEG studies (10 with seizure, 18 with highly epileptiform patterns, 90 with slow/normal activity). Eighty-one studies (69%), including 9 of 10 studies that detected seizures, occurred after-hours when EEG was previously unavailable. Based on historical practice patterns, we estimated that Rapid-EEG potentially obviated transfer for LTM in 31 of 33 patients (94%); both completed transfers occurred before the transition to tele-EEG review.

SIGNIFICANCE

Rapid access to EEG led to the detection of seizures that would otherwise have been missed and reduced inter-hospital transfers for LTM. We estimate that the reduction in inter-hospital transportation costs alone would be in excess of $39,000 ($1,274 per patient). Point-of-care EEG systems may support a hub-and-spoke model for managing non-convulsive seizures (similar to that utilized in this study and analogous to existing acute stroke infrastructures), with increased EEG capacity at community hospitals and tele-EEG interpretation by specialists at academic hospitals that can accept transfers for LTM.

National implementation of reperfusion for acute ischaemic stroke in England: How should services be configured? A modelling study

Objectives

To guide policy when planning thrombolysis (IVT) and thrombectomy (MT) services for acute stroke in England, focussing on the choice between ‘mothership’ (direct conveyance to an MT centre) and ‘drip-and-ship’ (secondary transfer) provision and the impact of bypassing local acute stroke centres.

Design

Outcome-based modelling study.

Setting

107 acute stroke centres in England, 24 of which provide IVT and MT (IVT/MT centres) and 83 provide only IVT (IVT-only units).

Participants

242,874 emergency admissions with acute stroke over 3 years (2015–2017).

Intervention

Reperfusion delivered by drip-and-ship, mothership or ‘hybrid’ models; impact of additional travel time to directly access an IVT/MT centre by bypassing a more local IVT-only unit; effect of pre-hospital selection for large artery occlusion (LAO).

Main outcome measures

Population benefit from reperfusion, time to IVT and MT, admission numbers to IVT-only units and IVT/MT centres.

Results

Without pre-hospital selection for LAO, 94% of the population of England live in areas where the greatest clinical benefit, assuming unknown patient status, accrues from direct conveyance to an IVT/MT centre. However, this policy produces unsustainable admission numbers at these centres, with 78 out of 83 IVT-only units receiving fewer than 300 admissions per year (compared to 3 with drip-and-ship). Implementing a maximum permitted additional travel time to bypass an IVT-only unit, using a pre-hospital test for LAO, and selecting patients based on stroke onset time, all help to mitigate the destabilising effect but there is still some significant disruption to admission numbers, and improved selection of patients suitable for MT selectively reduces the number of patients who would receive IVT at IVT-only centres, challenging the sustainability of IVT expertise in IVT-only centres.

Conclusions

Implementation of reperfusion for acute stroke based solely on achieving the maximum population benefit potentially leads to destabilisation of the emergency stroke care system. Careful planning is required to create a sustainable system, and modelling may be used to help planners maximise benefit from reperfusion while creating a sustainable emergency stroke care system.