title: Thrombolysis: attempting to reduce postcode prescribing in Scotland?
abstract: The literature is littered with reports presenting the proportion of patients admitted with ischaemic stroke receiving thrombolysis. This gives some measure of activity and the efficiency of prehospital and hospital triage. Some stroke centres have reported rates of thrombolysis as high as 20%, but without knowing the population that such services serve, these proportions do not indicate how well or equitably the treatment is being delivered. Here, we explore various metrics to monitor our efforts to provide equitable access to stroke thrombolysis in Lothian, a region in the South East of Scotland.
authors.affiliation: University of Edinburgh, Specialist Registrar Stroke Medicine, Western General Hospital, Edinburgh, UK.
authors.forename: Enda
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Kerr
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Dennis
authors.forename: Sarah
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Keir
mesh_terms: D000368:Aged; D005260:Female; D006761:Hospitals / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D010818:Practice Patterns, Physicians' / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D017064:Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012606:Scotland / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000453:epidemiology*; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*