Trident Medical Center TeleStroke Case Study
ABOUT
This hospital is a 321-bed major medical center located in South Carolina. It is a Certified Comprehensive Stroke Center through The Joint Commission.
PROBLEM
Despite increased patient volumes due to the COVID pandemic and the subsequent demands on nursing staff, the hospital maintained the necessary focus and dedication needed to continue improving their stroke program.
THE SOLUTION
Throughout 2020, the hospital’s stroke team made a deliberate effort to keep stroke care a high priority. They ensured proper education support was provided to frontline staff and continued to follow American Stroke Association best practices and TeleSpecialists recommendations. Actions that led to success include:
- Participating in monthly process improvement meetings with their assigned TeleSpecialists Quality Program Specialist and Regional Medical Director, where they reviewed all alteplase cases greater than 45 minutes for opportunities to improve their process
- A Q1 site visit with their TeleSpecialists Quality Program Specialist to walk current stroke alert process at the hospital along with their associated sister facility and FSEDs
- Staying on task with their planned stroke education month activities in May, including inpatient mock code stroke drills, despite the additional demands caused by COVID
- Continuing to have their Stroke Coordinator support the ED and partake in as many code strokes as possible, furthering education to newer staff
- Utilizing monthly new hire orientations as an opportunity to introduce the stroke process
- Focusing on monthly interdisciplinary stroke meetings to review outliers, conduct root cause analysis, and provide one-on-one feedback for any opportunities identified
Although 2020 was a year like no other, the hospital continued to make strides to optimize patient outcomes and improve Door-to-Needle times.