DETROIT – When someone has a stroke, evaluation and treatment is an emergency with every passing moment leading to more brain injury.
But some advanced stroke treatments aren’t available at every hospital, and in those cases, a person may need to be transferred.
Henry Ford Hospital, where some of the most advanced stroke treatments are available, is often on the receiving end of transfers for advanced care.
A new study from Michigan Medicine finds the large majority of cases, these transfers are taking nearly an hour longer than the recommended two hours.
Dr. Brian Stamm, a University of Michigan Health stroke neurologist, is concerned by any delay to getting advanced stroke care.
“Stroke is a very time-sensitive condition, every minute that goes by without appropriate stroke treatment, leads to further delay in restoration of blood flow to the brain, which can lead to lasting deficits and disability,” Stamm said.
Black and Hispanic patients were found to wait longer on average, as were female patients and those over 80 years old.
The emergency physician who co-led the study hopes the findings will help to guide a system redesign for stroke care across the country.
“I really hope that this study sheds some light on a problem that a lot of community hospitals face where they’re not able to get patients transferred quickly for definitive care,” said Dr. Regina Royan. “And in the case of stroke, we have really effective therapies for stroke. And if there are delays in their transfer, these therapies are not available to all patients.”
Although transferring patients is not always a straightforward process, it doesn’t mean we can’t improve. The main thing patients have control of is getting to a hospital as quickly as possible.