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Survey on stroke treatment
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Pittsburgh Post-Gazette

Hospitals

Question Response (1)
Is your hospital aware of the Recommendations for the Establishment of Primary Stroke Centers prepared by the Brain Attack Coalition?

If you answered yes, has your hospital implemented these recommendations?		 Yes: 36
No: 3


Yes: 18
No: 18
N/A: 3
Is your hospital certified by the Joint Commission on Accreditation of Healthcare Organizations (JCAHO) as a primary stroke center? Yes: 1
No: 38
Does your hospital have a stroke team led by an expert in stroke who can evaluate patients within 15 minutes of arrival 24 hours a day, seven days a week? Yes: 13
No: 26
Has your hospital worked with EMS agencies or the local 911 center to quickly identify stroke patients and facilitate their prompt treatment to take advantage of the three-hour window? Yes: 31
No: 8
If your hospital is notified that a stroke patient is en route to your emergency department, does it make specific preparations for that patient's arrival? Yes: 29
No: 10
Does your hospital have a neurosurgeon available to treat stroke patients within two hours of when it is determined to be clinically necessary? Yes: 12
No: 27
Does your hospital have a tPA protocol for stroke patients?

Does your hospital have the ability to promptly administer tPA to stroke patients?

If your hospital has the capability to administer tPA, how many times has it done so in the past year?		 Yes: 33
No: 6
Yes: 37
No: 2

Total: tPA administered 217 times
Does your hospital have the capability to provide other acute interventional stroke therapies besides tPA, such as intra-arterial thrombolytics and mechanical clot disruption? Yes: 7
No: 31
No answer: 1

Emergency medical services

Question Response (2)
Does your EMS document the time of onset of stroke symptoms in acute stroke patients? Yes: 47
No: 0
No response: 2
Does your EMS typically provide ground transport for acute stroke patients to a primary stroke center?

For those that answered "no," 17 said the stroke patients were taken either to a hospital preferred by the family or the closest hospital.		 Yes: 27
No: 15
Don't know: 5
No response: 2
Do you consult with medical command and the receiving hospital if acute stroke patients can be taken to the hospital within three hours of onset of stroke symptoms? Yes: 36
No: 11
No response: 2
If you answered yes, how often does medical command route acute stroke patients to primary stroke centers? Often: 18
Occasionally: 8
Rarely: 5
Never: 4
No response: 3
N/A: 11
(1) The survey was sent to 61 hospital campuses, of which 39 (or 64%) responded.
(2) A different survey was sent to 126 emergency medical services agencies, of which 49 (or 39%) responded.


First published on March 26, 2006 at 12:00 am
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