the use of high-quality interactive telemedicine in acute
stroke intervention (Levine & Gorman 1999). The
telestroke model has been implemented by multiple
healthcare organizations across the United States and
abroad (Schwamm et al. 2009). The overall goal of
telestroke consultation is to restart the stroke chain of
survival and to maximize recovery by timely assessment,
diagnosis and treatment (Demaerschalk et al.
2009). There are a growing number of telestroke programs
established in the United States and Europe
varying from small partnerships between campuses of
one hospital system to large multihospital affiliations in
which nonprofit, academic medical centers or tertiary
hospitals serve as hubs (e.g. specialty care stroke centers)
to a network of spokes (community or rural hospitals
lacking readily available stroke expertise around
the clock) (Schwamm et al. 2009). As a result of these
programs, community hospitals needing readily available
stroke expertise around the clock, can now meet
this need by implementing a telestroke programme. Our
facility had a need to provide access to expert neurological
consultation 24 hours a day, 7 days per week. Our
telestroke programme makes that access possible.
By using teleconsulting systems to evaluate and care for
stroke patients in the community hospitals Emergency
Department (ED), the neuroscience specialists at the hub
hospital can examine the patient, talk with the patient
and family, and review computed tomography (CT) scan
imaging and laboratory results with the ED physician.
Treatment can then be provided at the community
hospital, if available, or the patient can be transferred to
the hub hospital for the necessary treatment.
By partnering with primary stroke centres, community
hospitals can utilize established, evidence-based
protocols, have immediate access to neurology and
neurovascular consultation, provide rapid diagnoses
and treat or transfer the patient, as decided during the
teleconsult. Subsequently, patients from the community
are able to receive optimal stroke care and treatment by
going to their community hospital, saving valuable time
in initiating stroke treatment. Telestroke systems have
been shown to increase the number of patients urgently
evaluated by a neurologist and treated with tissue
plasminogen activator (tPA) (Pedragosa et al. 2009).
The intent of this paper is to describe the nursing
implementation of a telestroke programme in our
community hospital. Nurse leaders must be able to
develop a stroke care delivery model for their hospital
that includes facility-specific policies and procedures,
detailed team roles and responsibilities, appropriate
standards of nursing care, order sets, documentation
tools, patient/family education processes and quality
monitoring procedures. When developing the facilitys
stroke care delivery model, nurse leaders must consider
all operational processes and details that will impact
implementation. This takes considerable time and
planning