News

Contact: Mary Roberts

North Platte, Neb., February 25, 2022 – Does a provider’s comfort and confidence level in administering certain stroke medicines vary based on whether that provider is in a rural or urban setting?

That is the question that healthcare professionals, including one at Great Plains Health, sought to answer.

Chastity Orr, MSN, RN, stroke coordinator, is always seeking for expanded knowledge and skills that help care for stroke patients.

Orr, along with stroke experts across the state, partnered with Lifeline Stroke Nebraska to survey 110 providers across Nebraska at the beginning of 2021. The survey asked providers about administering IV thrombolytics, a medication that breaks up a clot and helps reestablish the flow of oxygen to the brain.

The survey results helped Orr gain a deeper understanding of stroke treatment and ways that she and her colleagues can promote education.

The research indicates that there is hesitancy to use the treatment and that there is a need for more telestroke consultation options for clinicians in critical access hospital.

Research showed that 50 percent of clinicians at certified centers, or more urban areas, feel comfortable and confident giving a patient IV thrombolytics without consulting another provider, while 29 percent of clinicians at critical access hospitals, or more rural areas, feel the same.

However, after consulting another provider, this percentage increases to 90 percent of clinicians at critical access hospitals and to 78 percent in clinicians at certified centers.

“This knowledge is empowering,” Orr said. “It identifies an area where our skills need practice, but it also shows how important those relationships with other providers are for developing our use of this treatment option.”

Orr helped present these findings at the International Stroke Conference sponsored by the American Health Association in New Orleans in February.

“The way that Chastity contributed to this research is outstanding. It take a lot of time to develop a study like this,” Barb Petersen, chief quality officer, said. “Now, we have this new understanding that is relevant to dozens of hospitals, big and small, across the state and even the region.”

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About Great Plains Health

Based in North Platte, Nebraska, Great Plains Health is a fully accredited, 116-bed acute-care regional medical center serving western and central Nebraska, northern Kansas and southern South Dakota. With 90 physicians representing nearly 30 medical specialties, the Great Plains Health system offers advanced health care, including heart and vascular, cancer, and orthopedic surgery services. Great Plains Health is a Level III trauma center, and all of its emergency department physicians are residency-trained and board-certified in emergency medicine. The system employs approximately 1,200 employees and serves a geographic area spanning approximately 16,000 square miles.

The hospital is accredited by the Center for Improvement in Healthcare Quality (CIHQ) and is home to an American College of Surgeons-accredited cancer center and Level II bariatric surgery program. For more information, visit gphealth.org.