The University of Virgnia researchers developed a technology called Improving Treatment with Rapid Evaluation of Acute Stroke via Mobile Telemedicine or also known as iTreat.
The medical system known as iTREAT, involved a low-cost, tablet -based system to enable physician to see and check the patient in the ambulance, who is being transported. iTreat kit has a tablet suction-mounted to the wall of an ambulance. Aside from that, the kit contains a portable antenna and modem, which is used to allow encrypted form of video consultation between a doctor, and a patient, according to UVA Today.
Head of the UVA Health System team that conducted the study, Dr. Andrew Southerland, said, during their initial feasibility testing, they partnered with rural ambulance agencies so they can have enough time for the stroke assessment, and test their mobile telestroke in stroke scenario. After testing the system, Dr. Southerland and his colleague found out that the system had sufficient connectivity, Medical News Today reported.
The device will be very useful to rescue a stroke patient as neurologist can check the patient even distant apart via video consultation. During working on the study of the system, Southerland's team used National Institutes of Health's Stroke Scale or NIHSS, a standard method that usually used by neurologists and emergency medicine physicians to evaluate stroke.
The paramedics and hospital doctors also participated in the study. They were the ones who carried out NIHSS assessments by using iTREAT during ambulance runs, and they compared the scores of the assessment which were obtained from bedside assessments done when the patients arrived at the hospital.
The study was carried out at two hospitals, there were in the central Virginia and San Francisco Bay Area, and there were 27 ambulance runs.
