Telestroke Assessment on the Move

Abstract

A mobile acute telestroke assessment service could provide crucial information about patients with a suspected stroke while they are being transported to hospital by ambulance. This could allow them to bypass the emergency department and go straight to computed tomography to ensure thrombolysis treatment is appropriate and, if indicated, administered rapidly. This novel audio-visual assessment performed en route could help streamline the patient’s pathway and reduce treatment delays. This article reports the results of our study investigating the feasibility of mobile telestroke assessment while in transit around the notoriously cellular signal-poor Scottish Highlands.