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Improved Treatment of Cerebral Stroke Patients in Small Hospitals? Reporting from a Telestroke Service in North Norway

Authors:
Kari Dyb
Terje Solvoll
Ellen Rygh
Tove Sørensen

Keywords: cerebrale stroke, rural hospitals, video conference consultation, telestroke

Abstract:
In 2010, Norwegian Centre of Integrated Care and Telemedicine (NST), in collaboration with Northern Norway Regional Health Authority (Helse Nord RHF), initiated a project to establish and explore a telestroke service for diagnosing and treatment of cerebral stroke patients. The first step was to set up a video-conference system between the three hospitals that constitute The Nordland Hospital (in Norwegian: Nordlandssykehuset, NLSH). This service connects the neurological department at NLSH Bodø with the two small rural hospitals; NLSH Lofoten and NLSH Vesterålen. The telestroke service was made available between NLSH Lofoten and NLSH Bodø from September 2010. At NLSH Vesterålen, the telestroke equipment was made available, but the usage was postponed due to reorganization of the local cerebral stroke care. The second step of our study was to explore the significance of the context when establishing a telestroke service in North Norway. This article is based on telestroke log data, semi-structured interviews, and focus group discussions with involved health personnel. We report from the implementation of the service, and the preliminary experience from the first year of use.

Pages: 72 to 77

Copyright: Copyright (c) IARIA, 2012

Publication date: January 30, 2012

Published in: conference

ISSN: 2308-4359

ISBN: 978-1-61208-179-3

Location: Valencia, Spain

Dates: from January 30, 2012 to February 4, 2012