Outcome of Stroke Fast-Track Patients Arrival by Emergency Medical Services

Abstract

Objective: To compare duration of door to needle time (DTN) of stroke patients between patients delivered to hospital by a stroke fast-track emergency medical system (SEFT) and those who came to hospital by a non-stroke EMS fast-track service (SNEFT) or, by themselves. Materials and Methods: Retrospective descriptive study to compare the outcomes of stroke fast track patients. Results: The present study retrieved medical records of 177 stroke fast track patients came to Khon Kaen hospital between October, 2018 and August, 2020. Over half the patients were male (60.5%). Ninety-nine (55.90%) came to hospital by Stroke EMS Fast Track (SEFT) and 78 (44.10%) by themselves or via Stroke Non-EMS Fast Track (SNEFT). The mean age of the SEFT and SNEFT groups was 62.11+13.63 and 59.37+15.39 years, respectively. Results showed the SEFT group had mean times door to CT, door to laboratory, door to physician, and door to needle of 16.53+4.63, 30.57+9.87, 33.99+15.16 and 45.37+7.91 minutes, respectively. Duration to treatment for all of the four treatment phases was statistically significantly shorter in the SEFT group than in the SNEFT group (p<0.001). Conclusion: The SEFT group had significantly shorter door to CT, door to lab, door to physician, and door to needle time than SNEFT group. Keywords: Stroke fast track, Emergency medical service system, Duration to treatment