This Article Free upon publication Full Text Full Text (PDF) All Versions of this Article: 40/7/2635    most recent STROKEAHA.109.192361v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Citation Map Services Email this article to a friend Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Request Permissions Citing Articles Citing Articles via HighWire Google Scholar Articles by Schwamm, L. H. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Schwamm, L. H. Pubmed/NCBI databases Medline Plus Health Information Choosing a Doctor or Health Care Service Stroke Related Collections Other Ethics and Policy Emergency treatment of Stroke Primary and Secondary Stroke Prevention Rehabilitation, Stroke

(Stroke. 2009;40:2635.)
© 2009 American Heart Association, Inc.

AHA Policy Statement

Recommendations for the Implementation of Telemedicine Within Stroke Systems of Care

A Policy Statement From the American Heart Association

Lee H. Schwamm, MD, FAHA, Co-Chair; Heinrich J. Audebert, MD, Co-Chair; Pierre Amarenco, MD, FAHA; Neale R. Chumbler, PhD; Michael R. Frankel, MD; Mary G. George, MD, MSPH^*; Philip B. Gorelick, MD, FAHA; Katie B. Horton, RN, MPH, JD; Markku Kaste, MD, FAHA; Daniel T. Lackland, DrPH, FAHA; Steven R. Levine, MD, FAHA; Brett C. Meyer, MD; Philip M. Meyers, MD, FAHA; Victor Patterson, MB, FRCP; Steven K. Stranne, MD, JD; Christopher J. White, MD, FAHA on behalf of the American Heart Association Stroke Council; Council on Epidemiology and Prevention; Interdisciplinary Council on Peripheral Vascular Disease; and the Council on Cardiovascular Radiology and Intervention

Key Words: AHA Scientific Statements • stroke • telemedicine • telestroke • stroke care • thrombolysis • video conferencing

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

	Introduction

 
In 2005, the American Stroke Association formed a task force on the development of stroke systems to propose a new framework for stroke care delivery that would emphasize linkages rather than silos in the chain of stroke survival and provide a blueprint for large organizations or state and federal agencies on how to implement a more coordinated approach to stroke care.¹ The stroke systems of care model (SSCM) recommends implementation of telemedicine and aeromedical transport to increase access to acute stroke care in neurologically underserved areas, as do the latest American Stroke Association guidelines for the early management of adults with ischemic stroke.² The present report was commissioned by the American Heart Association to address how telemedicine might help address current barriers to improved stroke care delivery in the United States within the framework of the SSCM.

Telemedicine has been defined broadly as "the use of telecommunications technologies to provide medical information and services" (p 483).³ Technically, this encompasses all aspects of medicine practiced at a distance, including use of telephone, fax, and electronic mail technology, as well as the use of interactive full-motion integrated video and audio, that brings together patients and providers separated by distance.⁴ In the early part of the twentieth century, electrocardiograms and electroencephalograms were transmitted over ordinary analogue telephone lines, and in 1920, medical advice service for sea craft via Morse code and voice radio was established. Expensive and cumbersome 2-way closed-circuit television systems used in the 1960s to transmit radiographs and evaluate patients have . . . [Full Text of this Article]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				Developments in Stroke Telemedicine Journal Watch Neurology, July 21, 2009; 2009(721): 1 - 1. [Full Text]