Short and long-term impact of four sets of actions on acute ischemic stroke management in Rhône County, a population based before-and-after prospective study.

BACKGROUND: Optimizing access to recanalization therapies in acute ischemic stroke patients is crucial. Our aim was to measure the short and long term effectiveness, at the acute phase and 1 year after stroke, of four sets of actions implemented in the Rhône County. METHODS: The four multilevel actions were 1) increase in stroke units bed capacity and development of endovascular therapy; 2) improvement in knowledge and skills of healthcare providers involved in acute stroke management using a bottom-up approach; 3) development and implementation of new organizations (transportation routes, pre-notification, coordination by the emergency call center physician dispatcher); and 4) launch of regional public awareness campaigns in addition to national campaigns. A before-and-after study was conducted with two identical population-based cohort studies in 2006-7 and 2015-16 in all adult ischemic stroke patients admitted to any emergency department or stroke unit of the Rhône County. The primary outcome criterion was in-hospital management times, and the main secondary outcome criteria were access to reperfusion therapy (either intravenous thrombolysis or endovascular treatment) and pre-hospital management times in the short term, and 12-month prognosis measured by the modified Rankin Scale (mRS) in the long term. RESULTS: Between 2015-16 and 2006-7 periods ischemic stroke patients increased from 696 to 717, access to reperfusion therapy increased from 9 to 23% (p < 0.0001), calls to emergency call-center from 40 to 68% (p < 0.0001), first admission in stroke unit from 8 to 30% (p < 0.0001), and MRI within 24 h from 18 to 42% (p < 0.0001). Onset-to-reperfusion time significantly decreased from 3h16mn [2 h54-4 h05] to 2h35mn [2 h05-3 h19] (p < 0.0001), mainly related to a decrease in delay from admission to imaging. A significant decrease of disability was observed, as patients with mild disability (mRS [0-2]) at 12 months increased from 48 to 61% (p < 0.0001). Pre-hospital times, however, did not change significantly. CONCLUSIONS: We observed significant improvement in access to reperfusion therapy, mainly through a strong decrease of in-hospital management times, and in 12-month disability after the implementation of four sets of actions between 2006 and 2016 in the Rhône County. Reducing pre-hospital times remains a challenge.

[Practical implementation and usefulness of guidelines for the management of syncope: a professional practice study]. / Application pratique et intérêt des recommandations de prise en charge des syncopes : évaluation de pratiques professionnelles.

AIMS: To assess the practical implementation of international guidelines and their impact on syncope management in a 500-bed general hospital. PATIENTS AND METHODS: Three groups of 63 consecutive patients admitted for syncope to the emergency care unit (ECU) were studied: group 1, before the guidelines delivered to the practitioners, group 2 immediately after the diffusion of guidelines and group 3, one year later. The study evaluates the mean duration of stay (MDS) and the relevance of the diagnostic strategy. RESULTS: In group 1 compared to group 2, MDS were respectively 6.8±5.5 and 5.4±2.8 days (P=0.07) and the unexplained syncope number respectively 22% and 24% (P=0.8). The search of orthostatic hypotension became more systematic (13% versus 86% in group 1 and 2 respectively, P<0.001). The agreement (kappa coefficient) between initial and final diagnostic increased in 0.34 to 0.44. One year later MDS in group 3 was 7.1±4.7 days (P=0.8 versus group 1 and P=0.015 versus group 2) with only 6.3% systematic search for orthostatic hypotension (P<0.001). CONCLUSIONS: Guidelines optimize the syncope management in the ECU and the agreement between the emergency and discharge diagnostic without change of unexplained syncope and. MDS tend to be shorter when guidelines are actively implemented. Nevertheless, the positive impact of guidelines implementation is of limited duration.