Reduction of In-hospital Delays in Stroke Thrombolysis: SITS-WATCH

Reduction of In-hospital Delays in Stroke Thrombolysis: SITS-WATCH

In patients with acute ischemic stroke: the sooner the thrombolysis treatment is administered after symptom onset - the better the outcome. This delay can be dissected into onset-to-door time and door-to-needle time (DNT). SITS-WATCH aims to reduce median DNT in participating centres.

In patients with acute ischemic stroke: the sooner the thrombolysis treatment is administered after symptom onset - the better the outcome. This delay can be dissected into onset-to-door time and door-to-needle time (DNT). Of the two, DNT can be directly influenced within the hospital by stream-lining of acute stroke care. The aim of our study is to reduce in-hospital delays (DNT) in self-selecting centers recruiting patients into the the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke-International Stroke Thrombolysis Register (SITS-ISTR) , comprising currently more than 80 000 patients from 1338 centers. Current median of DNT in all SITS centers is 65 minutes (compared with 20 minutes in Helsinki Univer-sity Central Hospital). An itemized detailed questionnaire, including all factors known to influence DNT, has been sent to all SITS centers to identify the reasons for long in-hospital delays. Based on the replies, we have prepared a list of interventions that can be considered by individual SITS centers in order to reduce DNT with interventions that are in line with national legislation.

Inclusion Criteria:

• All consecutive patients with acute ischemic stroke registered in SITS registry.

Exclusion Criteria:

• Centers not inputing patient data into SITS registry. Patients with missing DNT data.