Lapeer Regional Medical Center (LRMC) recently was recognized for outstanding achievements in emergency stroke care during the U-M INSTINCT Trial’s Stroke Champions Meeting held June 1 in Ann Arbor. LRMC is one of 24 randomly selected Michigan hospitals participating in the INSTINCT (INcreasing Stroke Treatment through INterventional Change Tactics) stroke study. This study, supported by the National Institutes of Health, is a clinical trial testing methods to increase stroke treatment and is led by Phillip A. Scott, MD, Associate Professor of Emergency Medicine at the University of Michigan.
“The goal of the study is to help hospitals reorganize their care systems to ensure timely identification and treatment for stroke patients,” said LRMC Emergency Services Director Ralph Scolari, DO. “Our staff is dedicated to providing the highest quality of care to our community.” “The success of the program at LRMC is due to the collaboration of the physicians, nurses, diagnostic imaging, and EMS staff – all committed to the single goal of providing consistent, timely, evidence-based medicine for our patients,” added LRMC Chief Nursing Officer Ken Sanger.
Stroke is a major public health problem. In fact, it is the third leading cause of death in the U.S., with about 795,000 people suffering a stroke each year causing more than 140,000 deaths. Strokes caused by blood clots are the most common, according to the American Heart Association. The intravenous drug tPA is used to break up the clot and has proven to be an effective treatment for stroke care. In 1996, the USFDA approved the use of tPA to reverse the effects of acute ischemic stroke. The drug must be given within three hours of the time that stroke symptoms begin. Due to difficulties in developing effective stroke treatment systems, only 1 percent of all patients with stroke were being treated at the start of the study in 2006 – some 10 years after approval. Data from academic stroke teams suggest substantially higher treatment rates are possible. In fact, study data from 2008 now demonstrate substantial improvements in tPA delivery to stroke patients.
At LRMC, Dr. Scolari has been leading efforts to improve systems of stroke care as part of the study. Staff from many departments (emergency medicine, neurology, radiology, nursing, critical care, administration and others) have all been instrumental in working together to streamline care and make this important stroke treatment more available to patients who might benefit from it. LRMC received its award for “Most improved stroke tPA treatment rate.”
“Our administration rate for t-PA in 2008 was 5 percent, which exceeds the benchmark of 4 percent for hospitals taking part in the study,” Dr. Scolari said. “The INSTINCT trial will continue at LRMC until early 2010 and we will continue striving to make significant improvements in our stroke care program.”
John Bauer, MD, Amy Peters, Emergency Department Nurse Manager, and Angela Rye, RN accepted the award on behalf of LRMC.