During a stroke, which occurs when the blood supply to the brain is interrupted by a blood clot or hemorrhage, every second matters.  Residents of Valdosta and the surrounding area in need of emergency medical care for a stroke may now benefit from a “telestroke” program from Mayo Clinic that brings vascular neurology experts right to a patient’s bedside at South Georgia Medical Center during those first critical minutes.

A recent agreement between South Georgia Medical Center and Mayo Clinic in Florida ensures patients who come to the main campus emergency room in Valdosta showing signs of stroke will have real-time access to specialists at any time, via a wireless remote presence robot.

“Our challenge is to get the right care to the patient in the shortest time frame possible,” explains SGMC CEO Randy Sauls.  “Residents of our region are very fortunate to have a hospital-based stroke neurologist at SGMC, but during times when Dr. Brian Dawson is away from the hospital, this technology affords vascular neurologists at Mayo Clinic to serve as an extension of our service. Accurate diagnosis of a stroke and timely treatment is paramount to improved patient outcomes.”

Although separated by distance, if a patient presents to SGMC, a Mayo Clinic stroke neurologist, whose face appears on the screen of the robot, can control the wireless robot and communicate with the patient and SGMC healthcare team through the use of two-way video conferencing. 

Neurologists can gather information about the patient and specific symptoms, including whether or not the patient can perform a series of physical movements and responses.  With the robot’s advanced monitors, cameras and microphones, the patient and/or caregivers can speak directly to the physician as if he or she were in the room.  Remotely, the Mayo physicians can also view scans of the patient’s brain.

“The stroke robot allows the teleneurologists at Mayo Clinic to provide urgent and immediate virtual care to our colleagues in remote areas. Thanks to the technology, we are able to conduct a full diagnostic exam on a patient and gather all the clinical information needed to more accurately advise our colleagues in the rural emergency room setting and assist with lifesaving therapy,” says Dr. Kevin Barrett, a member of Mayo Clinic’s telestroke team.

Within minutes of the telestroke consultation, the Mayo Clinic physician and SGMC’s Emergency Department physician discuss the recommended treatment, which may include a clot-busting medication called t-PA, which can be given within three to four and a half hours from the onset of stroke symptoms. Depending upon the situation, other  options may include transferring the patient to Mayo Clinic’s campus in Jacksonville for surgery or advanced endovascular therapy. 

The ability to access neurologists at Mayo Clinic is due in part to recent advancements in health technology.  Electronic medical records, digital CT images and the ability to communicate immediately through Internet capabilities and the wireless mobile robot, provide access that a few years ago would not have been possible. The robot, available from InTouch Health, is being used across the United States to provide remote access to physician care. Mayo Clinic began its telestroke program in Jacksonville in 2010. The Mayo Clinic Telestroke Network also includes hospitals in Waycross, Ga., and Titusville, Fla.