When a person has a stroke, time lost before treatment is brain loss.
Before Cleveland Regional Medical Center joined the Telemedicine Program at Mischer Neuroscience Institute (MNI), located at Memorial Hermann-Texas Medical Center, people who suffered a stroke in Cleveland, Texas, and the surrounding areas had to be transported to Houston to receive the highest quality care. Now, thanks to telemedicine, they have access to neurological expertise and treatment close to home.
To be most effective in treating the most common type of stroke, which is ischemic stroke, a special clot-dissolving drug called tPA must be administered as early as possible after the onset of symptoms, says Lisa Paxton, RN, who is medical director of the emergency center at Cleveland Regional Medical Center.
Guidelines require that its used within the first three hours following the stroke, which can make the short window of opportunity difficult for people who dont live close to a large medical center or a community hospital linked to a telemedicine program.
The availability of highly advanced stroke and neurological care at Cleveland Regional Medical Center is made possible by the RP-Lite Remote Presence Robotic System, a teleconferencing technology that wirelessly links Cleveland Regional Medical Center to the Mischer Neuroscience Institutes Stroke Center.
Equipped with two-way video and audio capability, the robot allows physicians in Cleveland, Texas, to consult with stroke specialists at MNI, who can see patients and view monitors and other clinical data sources firsthand from any remote location.
Within moments of a request for a neurological consultation from Cleveland Regional Medical Center, a member of the MNI stroke team seated at a computer control station at home, in the office or anyplace in the world with a wireless connection connects via the Internet to the robot in Cleveland Regional Medical Centers emergency department.
Patients who arrive at the emergency center with symptoms of stroke are stabilized by the emergency department staff and given blood work and tests.
The stroke expert at MNI can quickly access all test results and review them remotely.
With the ability to see and speak with the patient and the emergency department team in Cleveland, the MNI team can provide consultation, diagnosis and expertise not previously available in the area.
Read more from the original source:
Telemedicine extends stroke expertise to Cleveland Regional