Abstract W P226: Pre-Notification of Stroke Symptoms Reduces Decision Times in Acute Stroke

Introduction: Both the American Heart and American Stroke Associations recommend pre-notification of potential stroke patients to receiving facilities. Although Emergency Medical Services (EMS) may identify stroke symptoms in the field, initiation of the stroke code process is often postponed until after the patient arrives in the Emergency Department (ED). This could lead to unnecessary delays in assessment and intervention during an acute stroke. Hypothesis: We hypothesized that initiating a stroke code based on advanced notification of stroke symptoms via EMS and a Stroke Code Pit Stop (SCPS) would lead to decreased time of assessment, diagnosticssitics and IV tPA initiation. Methods: A pre- and post-intervention study of 733 patients presenting to 2 EDs in a 5 campus hospital system. Both EDs initiated a SCPS, with pre-notification of stroke symptoms via EMS and stroke code activation prior to patient arrival. Data were reviewed from January 2013-April 2014, comparing code stroke metrics pre- and post...