Telestroke Patients
Telestroke can give hospitals in rural communities across British Columbia improved access to emergency stroke diagnosis and treatment.
Neurologists working in large urban hospitals can connect with emergency room physicians in smaller and rural hospitals to examine, diagnose and treat patients suffering with stroke.
The most significant treatment is administering Tissue Plasminogen Activator (tPA), a drug that dissolves clots that may be blocking blood flow to the brain. There are critical decisions to be made before tPA is administered: is this a stroke caused by a blood clot or internal bleeding? How long has it been since the symptoms began to appear? Will this patient benefit from administering this drug?
The challenge for emergency room physicians in rural communities has been accessing the expertise to determine whether their patient would benefit. Telestroke is the solution.
Using video conferencing equipment and secure health authority networks, neurologists in the Lower Mainland or Victoria can examine patients, read their test results and decide if tPA should be administered. When used under the right conditions, tPA will dissolve the blood clot, restoring blood flow to the brain and significantly decreasing the amount of brain damage caused by a stroke.