Hospital Sisters Health System (HSHS) connected with Eagle Telemedicine to launch a TeleStroke program. This multi-institutional health care system that cares for patients in 14 communities in Illinois and Wisconsin. HSHS St. Nicholas Hospital in Sheboygan, Wisconsin is a 185-bed nonprofit community hospital that treated its first patient in 1890.
CHALLENGE
St. Nicholas had one neurologist on staff who was on call 24x7x365. He would consult by phone or in person, providing advice to the ED clinical staff. It was a setup that worked for St. Nicholas, but to take some of the work load off the neurologist, the hospital began to look for options to provide him with much needed support.
Certified by the Joint Commission in 2014 as a Certified Primary Care Stroke Center, the hospital knew whatever changes it made must meet the Joint Commission’s requirements. The hospital decided that Eagle’s TeleStroke program could maintain these Joint Commission’s standards.
SOLUTION: TeleStroke Program
St. Nicholas launched TeleStroke care in early 2016, bringing in Eagle TeleNeurologists to share responsibilities with the local neurologist. The TeleStroke program connects remote neurologists with the clinical team in the Emergency Department at St. Nicholas via videoconferencing technology whenever a patient presents with stroke symptoms, and they provide follow-up treatment using stroke telehealth services if the patient is admitted to the hospital.
Every 40 seconds, someone in the U.S. has a stroke
Strokes are the 4th leading cause of death in the U.S.
Strokes are the #1 cause of disability in the U.S.