2019 Volume 24 Issue 1 Pages 6-13
A stroke telephone hotline was introduced in our hospital in December, 2014. The purpose of the present study was to investigate stroke telephone hotline data and identify problems with stroke care that need resolution in our community healthcare area. Our hospital telephone hotline directly connected referral doctors to neurosurgeons 24/7/365. We collected and analyzed patient data gathered through the stroke telephone hotline from February of 2016 to January of 2017. During the study period, 54 patients were referred to Osaka Medical College Hospital. Eighteen patients (33%) were referred on Mondays, and most (87%) were transferred in the daytime. One neighboring general hospital that has no neurosurgical department referred 30 patients (56%), the highest number referred from a total of 18 referral medical institutions; this hospital and most of the other referral clinics were located in areas facing a paucity of neurosurgeons. While 37 patients (69%) had cerebrovascular disease, 12 (22%) were diagnosed with a head injury. Of the 37 patients with cerebrovascular disease, 26 had had an ischemic stroke, but only 2 were transferred to our hospital within 8 hours after onset. No patient was treated with the intravenous administration of recombinant tissue plasminogen activator.
Our stroke telephone hotline did not contribute to an improvement in acute stroke care in our community healthcare area. However, it facilitated the coordination of both stroke care and neurosurgical care with hospitals and clinics in areas facing a shortage of neurosurgeons.
