Enhancing acute stroke care: Evaluating the impact of the JOIN smartphone application

The smartphone application JOIN was developed to enhance stroke care by integrating into the treatment workflow at a hospital. JOIN offers key features such as real-time exchange of patient data and medical images, tracking of protocol steps from admission to discharge, and enabling real-time team communication through text, audio, and video chat. A comparative study reviewed two periods: 2.7 years before JOIN’s implementation (Pre-JOIN) with 37 patients and 2.2 years after (Post-JOIN) with 54 patients, examining 91 cases of cerebral infarction treated with tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) and/or thrombectomy between October 2012 and July 2017. The findings revealed significant reductions in patient management time, including door-to-imaging, tPA initiation, and endovascular intervention, after JOIN’s introduction. Staff expressed unanimous satisfaction due to improved efficiency and collaboration. However, no significant differences in patient outcomes, as measured by modified Rankin Scale (mRS) scores at 3 months, or in overall treatment costs were observed. This study highlights JOIN’s capability to optimize time-sensitive acute stroke care through instantaneous information sharing among healthcare professionals.

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Author: SYNYO GmbH

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