Researchers at Waterloo Engineering have teamed up with doctors in the local community to help identify and reduce critical treatment delays in stroke cases.
The partnership involved experts in the Department of Management Science and members of the research and stroke teams at Waterloo Regional Health Network (WRHN), and an analysis of 218 acute stroke cases over a three-year period.
The study found that communication gaps, consultation requirements, emergency department crowding, staffing challenges and imaging workflow constraints most often lead to delays in treatment when time is the enemy of patient outcomes.
"Stroke care is often described with the phrase 'time is brain' because brain tissue is lost with every minute treatment is delayed," said Rahenda Khodeir, an engineering doctoral researcher at Waterloo.
"Our goal was to understand not only where delays occur, but why they occur and how health-care organizations can address them."
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