title: Text-message-driven intervention, real time feedback slashes time-to-treatment for stroke patients.
abstract: Providers at the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF) Medical Center have been able to significantly improve door-to-needle times for stroke patients by using a real-time, text-message intervention to routinely inform all members of the stroke care team about the door-to-needle time for every stroke patient who receives thrombolytic therapy. Administrators say the approach has slashed average door-to-needle times by at least 20 minutes. The Stroke Center medical director follows up with team members for every patient who does not receive tPA within the recommended 60-minute time frame to find out what the impediment was. To be successful, administrators say the intervention needs to include real-time feedback, a mechanism for accountability, and sustained effort.
mesh_terms: D002140:California; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D005246:Feedback; D006784:Hospitals, Teaching; D006801:Humans; D058996:Quality Improvement; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy*; D060145:Text Messaging; D013997:Time Factors; D061665:Time-to-Treatment