ED evaluation: team and parallel process
When a potential stroke patient arrives at the emergency department from triage or EMS, the emergency department team will immediately start the stroke team process by evaluating the patient, notifying the stroke team of the patient's arrival, and notifying the radiology team to clear a table for the CT scan. A stroke patient requires a hospital-wide team response, and a lot of things happen at once just as it does in a trauma situation. High-acuity, high-risk patients require excellent communication and collaboration between teams. Many processes happen in parallel. Collaboration among the teams with clear process and defined agreement on protocol fosters an intensive focus on the medical management of the stroke patient maximizing productivity and effective use of personnel. Everyone has their role and responsibility, and everyone should understand the goals of care for the patient.