The Problem: Long Waits in Emergencies
Imagine you have a stroke and every second counts. You’re rushed to the nearest hospital, but they can’t give you the specialized treatment you need. So, you wait. And wait.
According to a new study, more than 70% of people with strokes who need to be moved to a different, more specialized hospital wait over two hours just for the transfer.
That’s a lot of time lost, especially when immediate care can make a big difference in how well you recover.
The study was led by teams from Michigan Medicine and the University of Chicago. They looked at data for over 100,000 stroke patients from 2019 to 2021.
Their findings show that the average time it took to move patients from the first hospital to the next was 174 minutes. That’s way past the 120 minutes or less that experts recommend for these critical transfers.
Who Waits Longer?
What’s worse is that not everyone waits the same amount of time. The study found that Black or Hispanic patients, women, and people over 80 years old waited even longer.
There could be many reasons for this, including systemic issues like structural racism and inequality within healthcare systems. The point is, we need to understand why this is happening and do something about it.
Why Immediate Care Matters
For stroke patients, quick treatment is critical. The longer the wait, the more damage can happen to the brain.
Some strokes can be treated with special therapies, but these have to be done as quickly as possible to work well.
In the study, they did find that patients with severe strokes who were eligible for these therapies got transferred quicker, in an average time of 132 minutes. But that’s still longer than experts recommend, and what about the rest?
What Can Be Done?
The researchers say that it’s time to get creative. Hospitals need to find better ways to move patients faster and to make sure everyone gets the same level of care, no matter their age, gender, or race.
They also pointed out that letting the first hospital know ahead of time that a stroke patient is coming in helped to speed things up.
This suggests that better communication between emergency services and hospitals could be one way to improve things.
This study isn’t just about numbers; it’s a wake-up call. Every minute counts for a stroke patient, and right now, too many minutes are being wasted. We need to fix the system, so everyone gets the immediate care they need.
If you care about stroke, please read studies about how to eat to prevent stroke, and scientists find a breakfast linked to better blood vessel health.
For more information about health, please see recent studies about how Mediterranean diet could protect your brain health, and wild blueberries can benefit your heart and brain.
The study was published in JAMA.
Follow us on Twitter for more articles about this topic.
Copyright © 2023 Knowridge Science Report. All rights reserved.
