Increasing thrombolysis rate in acute ischemic stroke using a mobile instant messaging application: experience from a developing country

Abstract

Dear editor: Thrombolytic therapy with recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) improves functional outcomes in stroke, but its use requires an accurate patient selection to increase post-stroke functional improvement. In our country, trained physicians for rt-PA use are few. In our Hospital (Hospital Univeristario José Eleuterio González), rt-PA is applied by the emergency medical team (EMT) made up primarily of residence in training with little experience in rt-PA use. The process involved the communication of every patient to the stroke specialists (SPs) using phone calls, which subsequently had to authorize its use, leading to low rates of rt-PA use. We created a chat in WhatsApp (WhatsApp, California, USA) between SPs and the EMT in July 2016.