Web-based Telemedicine - Time Saved Equals Brain Saved Every minute counts when someone is experiencing stroke symptoms. Web-based telemedicine allows the consulting neurologist to get eyes on a patient within ten minutes.
With the use of the new Web-based telemedicine service, Remote Evaluation of Acute isCHemic stroke (REACH), a doctor specialized in stroke medicine is always on-call and ready within seconds to quickly and remotely evaluate, diagnose and recommend treatment for stroke patients.
Providence Alaska Medical Center has partnered with Providence Kodiak Medical Center, Providence Valdez Medical Center, Providence Seward Medical and Care Center, Bartlett Regional Hospital, and Central Peninsula General Hospital to provide acute stroke care services to patients across the state. The partnering hospitals as well as Providence Alaska Medical Center in Anchorage are each equipped with a REACH mobile cart, which includes a wireless laptop, LCD monitor, keyboard, mouse, and a camera. The partnering hospital’s ER staff use the cart’s laptop to register a patient experiencing stroke symptoms and request a consult with a remote on-call physician affiliated with Providence Alaska Medical Center.
The consulting neurologist simply uses a laptop or PC equipped with a Web cam and broadband Internet connection to communicate with patients and staff in outlying hospitals. The consulting physician controls the two-way audio and video communication and can view all patient data and images, such as CT scans, and then uses the integrated decision support tools to evaluate the patient and recommend treatment. The remote capability of the on-call physician - who can log in from home or at the hospital - equates to even faster diagnosis and treatment recommendations. Time saved is brain saved.
Throughout their stay, patients are treated by highly trained staff members that specialize in caring for stroke patients – from the neurosurgeons, neurologists, certified neuroscience nurses and rehabilitation therapists to the discharge planners that arrange for continued care and support after leaving the hospital.
Visit the following Web sites for more information on stroke: American Stroke Association
National Stroke Association
The Brain Attack Coalition | 
