With involvement from Anna Khanna, M.D., the medical director of the UF Health Shands Comprehensive Stroke Center and an assistant professor of neurology, and Brian Hoh, M.D., M.B.A., chair of the Lillian S. Wells Department of Neurosurgery, UF Health will roll out its first mobile stroke treatment unit in July, enabling patients to receive immediate stroke care, even before they can be transported to a treatment center. The initiative was announced June 5 in an event outside of the George T. Harrell, M.D., Medical Education Building.
The units will include a diagnostic CT scanner, clot-busting drugs such as tissue plasminogen activator, or tPA, medications given intravenously to lower high blood pressure, medications used to reverse the effects of bleeding inside the brain, and telemedicine equipment. Ambulances will be staffed by a team that includes a stroke-trained health provider, a CT technologist, an EMT driver and a paramedic, as well as a neurologist specializing in stroke care, who will be available via telemedicine.
“We are always looking for innovative ways to enhance our patient care efforts,” Hoh said. “The mobile stroke treatment unit allows us to bring stroke care to the patient and save precious time in our efforts to preserve brain function.”
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