The human brain is a marvel in its design and function. Each day, more than 2,000
people in the United States have a stroke, and 87 percent of the time, a stroke is caused
when blood flow to the brain is blocked. For every second blood flow is interrupted,
tens of thousands of brain cells die.
“The overarching philosophy in stroke care is: ‘time is brain’,” said Robert Hoesch,
MD, neurologist and Medical Director of Intermountain’s Neurosciences Clinical
Program. “The faster patients receive proper treatment, the better the outcome is
likely to be, which means less disability.”
Intermountain’s Stroke TeleHealth Service helps ensure our patients experiencing
stroke receive optimal treatment. Through this technology, emergency department
clinicians at any Intermountain hospital, as well as their patients, have the ability to
consult real-time with a neurologist, even in smaller community hospitals.
The Neurosciences Clinical Program implements
TeleHealth (Telestroke) Services system-wide,
allowing neurologists to consult real-time with clinicians
at Intermountain hospitals
Neurosciences, established in 2014, is one of Intermountain’s two
newest Clinical Programs. Previously, Intermountain had a Stroke
Development Team under the Intensive Medicine Clinical Program,
with a focus on identifying stroke care best practices. Intermountain
made Stroke TeleHealth (Telestroke) Services an important priority
to provide consistent, high-quality stroke treatment throughout our
hospitals. This became a catalyst to developing a distinct Neurosciences
Clinical Program. Thus, TeleHealth became the first Neurosciences
priority initiative.
Intermountain’s Stroke TeleHealth Service allows a physician at our
hospital emergency rooms who is treating a stroke patient to have a realtime
consultation with a neurologist. “We want to treat patients in their
community when it is possible and safe to do so,” said Dr. Hoesch. “Our
Stroke TeleHealth Service helps our rural communities—and our larger
hospitals—by bringing in the expertise of a stroke-trained neurologist
from our comprehensive stroke program at Intermountain Medical
Center to perform a high-quality neurological exam in our hospital
emergency departments.”
The only FDA-approved treatment for strokes caused by blockages
to the brain, or clots, is tissue plasminogen activator (tPA), which
is given through an IV in the arm and works by dissolving the clot
and improving blood flow to the part of the brain being deprived of
blood flow. The national standard for “door-to-needle” time—the time
from which a stroke patient enters the hospital door to the time tPA
treatment is given—is 60 minutes. At Intermountain Medical Center,
our mean door-to-needle time is about 35 minutes, and our mean
door-to-needle time at all our hospitals through our TeleHealth service
meets the national standard of 60 minutes or less. This results in many
patients being able to live the healthiest lives possible by avoiding
disability or even death.