The Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican hospital system in southern Nevada introduced a telestroke program in partnership with a Mayo Clinic facility in Phoenix.
Dignity Health-St. Rose Dominican, which serves the Henderson and Las Vegas populations in Nevada, has three campuses that already have stroke centers, but the telestroke program will allow patients who come to the emergency departments to be seen sooner, according to a news release. A self-propelled robot with a screen will allow patients to confer with a Mayo Clinic neurology specialist in Phoenix via video. The neurologist can use a computer, smartphone, tablet or laptop to conduct the telestroke consultation and view the patient's brain scans or medical records.
Mayo Clinic, based in Rochester, Minn., funded the research at the Phoenix campus, which was the first in Arizona to conduct clinical research on using telestroke methods. Collaboration between stroke neurologists and physicians at remote sites has shown 96 percent accuracy in diagnosing strokes, according to the news release.