HandiStroke: a handheld tool for the emergent evaluation of acute stroke patients

The management of acute stroke is time-sensitive. Clinical decision making requires data not only from laboratory testing and neuroimaging, but also from a detailed history and neurologic examination. The neurologic examination provides baseline information and assists in differentiating acute stroke from its mimickers. There is a need for tools to facilitate the evaluation and decision making in the acute stroke patient to make the correct diagnosis and, when indicated, to properly administer intravenous thrombolytic therapy.

The goals of this project were to create a standardized, handheld software program to aid physicians in their evaluation of patients presenting to the emergency department (ED) with acute ischemic stroke, and to create an educational tool with which residents and other health care professionals can gain a level of proficiency in treating these patients.

A comprehensive handheld tool was created that incorporates a National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS) calculator, inclusion criteria, absolute contraindications, and relative warnings for thrombolytic use (i.e., recombinant tissue plasminogen activator), and a weight-based dosing calculator that flows in a logical and clinically relevant format. Additionally, the program includes reference materials and guidelines for clinical management to further assist the clinician.

Applications of this program include reformatting for use as a data-gathering tool in future clinical studies investigating the treatment of stroke patients, increasing the use and documentation of the NIHSS within the ED in acute ischemic stroke patients, and improving protocol adherence for rt-PA use.