Experience with scaling up the Victorian Stroke Telemedicine programme

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Health Services Research
• Telecommunications

Background:

• Telemedicine can improve access to acute stroke treatments like thrombolysis in rural settings.
• The Victorian Stroke Telemedicine (VST) program in Australia is expanding to increase this access.
• Current utilization of telemedicine for stroke thrombolysis in Australia remains limited.

Purpose of the Study:

• To summarize the progress of scaling up the VST program from one to four hospitals.
• To evaluate the initial implementation and effectiveness of the VST program expansion.
• To assess the diagnostic accuracy and treatment recommendations via telemedicine consultations.

Main Methods:

• Review of patient and clinical consultation quantitative data from March 1 to June 30, 2014.
• Analysis of telemedicine consultations at three new hospital sites within the VST program.
• Categorization of consultations based on mode (video vs. telephone) and outcomes.

Main Results:

• By August 2014, the VST program was operational at four sites.
• During the study period, 42 patients received VST consultations.
• Of these, 7 patients were recommended for thrombolysis (tPA), with 6 treated; nearly 70% of consultations resulted in a stroke diagnosis.

Conclusions:

• The expansion of the VST program to three additional hospitals shows promising results for appropriate telemedicine use.
• Telemedicine effectively facilitates stroke diagnosis and treatment recommendations in rural hospitals.
• Technical issues with telemedicine equipment impacted a portion of telephone-only consultations.