Thrombolysis in acute stroke: ongoing challenges based on a tertiary hospital audit and comparisons with other Australian studies.

Conclusion The proportion of eligible stroke patients who receive tPA in a timely manner remains less than ideal at our centre. More accurate patient selection and reductions in treatment delays serve as targets for quality improvement efforts that have broad applicability.What is known about the topic? Stroke unit care and tPA thrombolysis are two proven strategies to improve outcome in patients with ischaemic stroke. Although the stroke unit is gaining momentum of growth in Australia (especially in Queensland), little improvement has been achieved in thrombolysis rate and timeliness of treatment delivery, and little is known about the service delivery in Queensland because there are no published data.What does this paper add? This paper provides an extensive review of thrombolysis treatment in a tertiary Queensland hospital, adding to the understanding of treatment implementation. It also provides a complete and comprehensive review of treatment delay (including emergency department referral time and computed tomography to needle time, which have not been reported in other Australian studies), and a template for data collection to review treatment delay and outcome measurement in detail. It also compares findings with peer Australian studies (this has not been reported previously) and summarises potential strategies that could be adopted systemically.What are the implications for practitioners? Delivery of thrombolysis treatment in a timely manner remains a significant chal...
Source: Australian Health Review - Category: Hospital Management Authors: Tags: Aust Health Rev Source Type: research