Stroke: Racing the Clock

“I’m to the point where I don’t want to be without this app for Code Blue or stroke. It’s an essential tool, not just an optional tool.”

For Dr. Marc Scarbrough, using the Redivus Health mobile app has become critical to patient care. As a physician at Lawrence Memorial Hospital in Lawrence, Kan., recently he was attending to multiple patients on the floor when he was alerted of a patient showing signs of stroke.

Dr. Scarbrough launched the Redivus stroke app on his phone and set the app’s timer back one hour to record when the nurse first reported seeing symptoms, or the “last known normal.” He referred to the app’s NIH stroke scale. “Even though I know it, it’s useful to have it there as a guide.”

Redivus Health mobile app for stroke

“With stroke, you’re racing the clock to see if you can use tPA safely, the drug that dissolves blood clots and speeds recovery,” he says. “The app also prompted me to consider whether this patient would need to be transferred for more advanced treatment.”

Alerts Improve Care

While they waited on the patient’s lab tests, Dr. Scarbrough returned to working with other patients, relying on the Redivus app notification alerts to keep him connected to the stroke patient.

“It’s so handy to have alerts through the app that appear on my phone and smart watch, such as ‘You have one hour left to give tPA.’ It’s rare for EMRs to have auto alerts and timers.”

Lab results showed that the patient was not a candidate for tPA. Because it was too risky to give that medication, Dr. Scarbrough continued monitoring and the patient’s symptoms returned to baseline.

“In stressful situations, you can forget a lot of what you know,” Dr. Scarbrough says. “I’ve been in situations where treating a patient for stroke or cardiac arrest does not go smoothly.”

“The app helps me feel like I’m more in control of a stressful situation. I can rely on the app to give the prompts to do the right thing at the right time and document everything.”

Learn more about the capabilities of the Redivus Health stroke app.