Telestroke and Telemedicine
EMS systems should collect data on all transported stroke patients. This continuous quality improvement measure allows further evaluation and improvements in EMS care. Knowledge of final hospital diagnosis can improve EMS stroke identification accuracy. It is important to emphasize that it’s better to over-triage stroke patients than underestimate the potential that symptoms may be due to a stroke. The mantra “time is brain” is relevant; rapid assessment and transport is critical for patients suspected of having a stroke. In fact, for every second a large blood vessel to the brain is blocked, 32,000 neurons (brain cells) die. It is estimated that an acute stroke accelerates the aging process by approximately 36 years. [1][2][6][12]
