Date of Award

Spring 2-2-2023

Embargo Period

2-4-2023

Document Type

Dissertation

Degree Name

Doctor of Health Administration

Department

Health Administration

College

College of Health Professions

First Advisor

Annie Simpson

Second Advisor

Jiebing Wen

Third Advisor

Tina Cocuzza

Abstract

In the event of an acute ischemic stroke, 1.9 million neurons are lost in the brain per minute. Since the inception of thrombolytic therapy and mechanical thrombectomy as effective tools in the treatment of acute ischemic stroke, the focal point of quality improvement in this field has become the time to treatment delivery. As rural and more interspersed environments exhibit high disability and mortality rates associated with these acute neurological conditions, inequities in timely care delivered to these patient populations persist. Limitations in access are now abated by the extension of neurologist expertise into these areas via Telestroke. This study seeks to understand variation among key performance measurements within a Telestroke network serving New York’s Hudson Valley and to determine if more time within this program results in improved performance. A descriptive analysis of several unique time metrics reveals associations among discovered variables that will guide targeted process improvement initiatives and promote evidence-based decision making. It is undetermined whether time within this network results in improved performance, yet the mission of continuously improving the ability to preserve brain tissue in acute stroke patients by reducing the time to treatment is accomplished through constant program monitoring and process improvement.

Rights

Copyright is held by the author. All rights reserved.

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