Gila Regional Medical Center Deploys Telestroke Services Equipment

By Fred Donovan

September 17, 2019 - New Mexico-based Gila Regional Medical Center has acquired telestroke services equipment that includes a camera and communications link to connect stroke patients in the emergency department with a remote neurologist, the Silver City Daily Press reported.

The equipment was gifted to Gila Regional by the Texas-based St. David’s Foundation.

Before receiving the equipment, the hospital would have to transfer stroke patients “because there is no one here to manage the patient,” said Stephen Kotch, MD, of Innova Emergency Medicine Associates, that company that operates the Gila Regional’s emergency department.

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But transferring patients from Gila Regional to the University of New Mexico Hospital takes critical time that can result in permanent damage and poor outcomes for stroke victims, the report noted.

“This is going to allow stroke patients to stay in their community, their hometown — whether or not we administer medicine or not — by providing a resource we don’t have, [i.e.,] a stroke expert, a neurologist,” Kotch told the newspaper. “We expect improved outcomes with more successful identifications of when to use thrombolytics.”

“We have a three and a half to four hour window in which to decide to give a patient thrombolytics,” Kotch said. “You’re giving a drug that can maintain life.”

Thrombolytics can dissolve a clot and reduce or eliminate the symptoms from ischemic strokes, but they can also take the life of someone suffering from a hemorrhagic stroke, he added.

Kotch said that first respondents call ahead to let the Gila Regional emergency department know that a possible stroke victim is coming in.

Whether a patient arrives by ambulance or in a care, the emergency department’s immediate goals are to find out when the stroke happened, whether the patient has “any significant [pre-existing] medical problems, and if they are on any medications,” Kotch said. “Do they have prior brain injuries?”

Once the staff identify a patient experienced a stroke and gathers the relevant information about the patient, clinicians can use the telestroke equipment to connect with the neurologist for remote examination.

“This is the most high-tech equipment I’ve seen,” Kotch said. “I believe it even moves as the neurologist moves his head while examining the patient.”

Networking News

Gila Regional Medical Center Deploys Telestroke Services Equipment

New Mexico-based Gila Regional Medical Center has deployed telestroke services equipment that includes a camera and communications link to connect stroke patients in the emergency department with a remote neurologist, the Silver City Daily Press reported.

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