South Carolina Hospital TeleStroke Case Study
ABOUT
This hospital is a 79-bed acute care facility located in South Carolina. In 2020, the facility had 139 stroke alert activations.
THE PROBLEM
Before TeleSpecialists’ services went live, their median Door-to-Needle (DTN) time was 69 minutes (Feb. 2020-Jul. 2020).
THE SOLUTION
During the implementation phase with TeleSpecialists, the hospital participated in a Lean Value Stream mapping session. This allowed TeleSpecialists and the hospital to collaborate on a workflow based on best practices for stroke care.
The following activities were then implemented at this facility:
- Pre-arrival stroke activation
- Brief stroke Pit Stop, then straight to CT
- TeleSpecialists physician remains on-screen with patient in CT
- Staff education on the new stroke response protocol
- Mock stroke code simulation sessions
- Regular analysis of quality metrics and case reviews
Since going live with TeleSpecialists, their DTN median time has decreased by 43%. The improvement in treatment time is the direct result of the collaboration between the teams at this hospital and TeleSpecialists.