Authors (including presenting author) :
Raymond LEUNG (1), Karin CHOW (1), Crystal LEUNG (2), Kit CHOW (2)
Affiliation :
(1) Stroke Nursing Team, Department of Medicine and Geriatrics, Tuen Mun Hospital (2) NTWC Information Technology Services
Introduction :
In hyperacute stroke care, every second counts—delays could lead to irreversible brain damage or death. In prevailing hyperacute stroke workflow in New Territories West Cluster (NTWC), manual timestamp recording on paper record with retrospective entry into various databases is needed, which created stresses to frontline colleagues. Fragmented communication is also observed with major treatment decisions still being communicated on phone, which could hinder timely interventions and could compromise patient outcomes. While preparing for National Stroke Centre Accreditation for Tuen Mun Hospital, the team discovered a smart app used in China to boost stroke care efficiency. The NTWC Stroke Team envisioned to develop a similar technology-driven solution to tackle current challenges.
Objectives :
The NTWC Stroke Team collaborated with NTWC Information Technology Services to develop the Smart Stroke Registry (SSR), a smart app designed to streamline timestamp capture, enhance clinical communication, and facilitate real-time stroke database building with integration of Hospital Authority ‘s HA chat communication platform for the unique environment in Hong Kong.
Methodology :
Development of the Smart Stroke Registry (SSR) commenced since January 2024. The app is co-developed by stroke clinicians and into experts, with two rounds of user acceptance testing (UAT) to ensure functionality and usability, aiming to improve patient care efficiency and reduce redundant data entry for clinicians.
Result & Outcome :
The SSR boasts an intuitive interface with a one-click action capture feature for capturing timestamps for easy use at clinical area. This real-time, structured recording eliminates needs for data transcription and verification, reducing cognitive load on clinicians and minimizing administrative work hours. All recorded timestamps are stored for real-time construction of stroke database. Post-application review showed that 50% reduction of administrative time for data handling for each case, which converts to 7 nursing man-hours per week saved.
Since December 2024, the SSR has been deployed to NTWC stroke care workflow, processed over 800 screenings. In each case, SSR acts as a bridge for coordinating communication. With stroke nurses real-time report of stroke screening process in SSR, treatment decisions are prompted to neurologists and neuro-interventionists in formatted as HA Chat action buttons. SSR records treatment decisions and corresponding decision times. The SSR promptly reacts to treatment decisions by proceeding to predefined treatment pathways. enhancing timely interventions.
The SSR also gathers details about mechanical thrombectomy procedures and offers a single-click report generation feature to assist neuro-interventionists with their workflows. This enables efficient intervention reporting and database creation with just one instance of data entry.
The SSR revolutionizes hyperacute stroke management by boosting data accuracy, communication, and efficiency. Inspired by the Chinese model and tailored for NTWC with innovations like HA Chat integration, it empowers clinicians to prioritize patient care. Its success has sparked talks with Hospital Authority Health Informatics for wider adoption, setting a blueprint for tech-driven acute stroke care solutions.
