BWH’s Department of Neurology, along with the Neuro-Interventional Radiology Service and Nursing, have created a new stroke team designed to facilitate the identification and treatment of inpatients experiencing strokes.
Thrombolytic therapies have now been given successfully to many patients with acute stroke. Most of these patients enter the hospital through the ED.
The new in-house team is an extension of the current acute stroke team designed to facilitate rapid assessment of patients who develop acute strokes while they are hospitalized. Although only a small percentage of patients develop strokes during their hospitalization, the acute in-house stroke team is available to respond to this emergency via pager #31382.
Nurses on 9D (neuro ICU) have been trained and are part of the team, which includes Neurology, Interventional Radiology and CT Scan. The team rapidly responds when a nurse or house officer notifies them of an inpatient with an acute neurological change consistent with stroke.
The time from symptom onset to medical attention is critically important in the neurologic recovery from stroke. The American Heart Association has stated that all patients presenting within three hours of the onset of signs and symptoms consistent with an acute ischemic stroke should be considered for intravenous thrombolytic therapy. Patients with contra-indications for intravenous thrombolytic therapy or with certain types of strokes may benefit from intra-arterial approaches to early revascularization. Recent research has shown that thrombolytic therapy, when initiated in early acute ischemic stroke, can improve the chances of patients recovering with minimal or no disability.