Door-to-needle times for tissue plasminogen activator administration and clinical outcomes in acute ischemic stroke before and after a quality improvement initiative

Gregg C. Fonarow, Xin Zhao, Eric E. Smith, Jeffrey L. Saver, Mathew J. Reeves, Deepak L. Bhatt, Ying Xian, Adrian F. Hernandez, Eric D. Peterson, Lee H. Schwamm

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

436 Scopus citations

Abstract

IMPORTANCE: The benefits of intravenous tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) in patients with acute ischemic stroke (AIS) are time dependent and guidelines recommend a door-to-needle (DTN) time of 60 minutes or less. However, studies have found that less than 30% of US patients are treated within this time window. Target: Stroke was designed as a national quality improvement initiative to improve DTN times for tPA administration in patients with AIS. OBJECTIVES: To evaluate DTN times for tPA administration and the proportion of patients with times of 60 minutes or less before and after initiation of a quality improvement initiative and to determine whether potential improvements in DTN times were associated with improvements in clinical outcomes. DESIGN, SETTING, AND PATIENTS: The Target: Stroke initiative disseminated 10 care strategies to achieve faster DTN times for tPA administration, provided clinical decision support tools, facilitated hospital participation, and encouraged sharing of best practices. This study included 71 169 patients with AIS treated with tPA (27 319 during the preintervention period from April 2003-December 2009 and 43 850 during the postintervention period from January 2010-September 2013) from 1030 Get With The Guidelines-Stroke participating hospitals (52.8%of total). MAIN OUTCOMES AND MEASURES: The DTN times for tPA administration of 60 minutes or less and in-hospital risk-adjusted mortality, symptomatic intracranial hemorrhage, ambulatory status at discharge, and discharge destination. RESULTS: Measures of DTN time for tPA administration improved significantly during the postintervention period compared with the preintervention period as did clinical outcomes. (Table Presented) CONCLUSIONS AND RELEVANCE: Implementation of a national quality improvement initiative was associated with improved timeliness of tPA administration following AIS on a national scale, and this improvement was associated with lower in-hospital mortality and intracranial hemorrhage, along with an increase in the percentage of patients discharged home.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)1632-1640
Number of pages9
JournalJAMA
Volume311
Issue number16
DOIs
StatePublished - Apr 23 2014
Externally publishedYes

ASJC Scopus subject areas

  • General Medicine

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