Lone Star Stroke Consortium opens new research platform for trials
DALLAS – March 26, 2015 – The Lone Star Stroke Consortium, a group of five medical academic centers and 22 hospitals, has created a new research platform for scientists seeking to initiate studies and field trials for hundreds of stroke patients across Texas. The studies will take place in more than 20 hospitals, some in geographically remote areas, in a relatively short period of time.
The Lone Star Stroke Consortium has begun conducting high-quality, patient-oriented research covering all aspects of stroke care, including preventative strategies, acute treatment in emergency rooms, and rehabilitation. The Consortium has now invited research proposals from facilities around the world.
For several years, academic centers have offered stroke specialist consultations for patients located in geographically underserved areas by using tele-technology. The Lone Star Stroke Consortium now extends the benefits of telemedicine by connecting cutting edge stroke research from around the world into the pool of potential research subjects.
The Lone Star Stroke Consortium was established in 2014 with a $4.5 million grant from the Texas State Legislature. Its goals are to improve stroke care in often underserved rural areas by expanding the outreach of stroke specialists via telemedicine, study the institutional variations that affect stroke care in rural populations, and allow the often underserved populations to participate in research.
The Lone Star Stroke Consortium is made up of the University of Texas Southwestern Medical Center in Dallas, University of Texas Health Science Center in San Antonio, University of Texas Health Science Center in Houston, the Seton Healthcare Family in Austin, and Baylor College of Medicine/St. Luke’s Medical Center in Houston, as well as 22 hospitals across the state of Texas.
The first Lone Star Stroke-initiated study will take place at UT Southwestern Medical Center. The Nursing-driven Acute Stroke Care (NAS-Care) study will examine the effects of implementing nursing-based workflow processes to expedite the triage and treatment of stroke patients.
NAS-Care was tested as a pilot project at UT Southwestern St. Paul University Hospital in 2013 and 2014. Dr. Julian P. Yang, Assistant Professor in Neurology & Neurotherapeutics and Neurological Surgery, is the principal investigator for NAS-Care.
“Lone Star Stroke Consortium provides the perfect testing ground across the entire state of Texas to see what factors are most important in providing the most efficient care,” said Dr. Yang.
The impetus for the study came when Dr. Yang questioned why stock car racing teams could complete an entire pit stop in 13 seconds, yet the typical emergency room team took 76 minutes to complete a stroke code for telemedicine encounters. The pilot study, using an improved protocol in the ER, revealed a decrease in several time metrics and an increase in consistency across stroke codes.
The Lone Star Stroke Consortium will greatly expand the reach of the study that could result in a description of “best care” practices in multiple telestroke networks.
“Because telestroke is still an evolving paradigm of care, this study may have significant findings in improving care,” said Dr. Yang.
The objective is to optimize care by emphasizing the rapid completion of stroke work-up by nursing personnel. Predictors of top performance with the new protocol will be identified as possible points of stroke education for the future.
Researchers interested in using the Lone Star Stroke Consortium should contact Betsy Sansom at BMSansom@seton.org for more information on initiating research studies.
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Media Contact: Gregg Shields
214-648-9354
gregg.shields@utsouthwestern.edu