Case Study: Metro Health (University of Michigan Health) achieves a 47% reduction in stroke door-to-needle time — saving ~50 million brain cells — with Stryker (Vocera Platform)

Connected Care Teams at Metro Health – University of Michigan Health Save Time, Brain Cells, and Lives

Metro Health, an affiliate of University of Michigan Health and a certified Comprehensive Stroke Center, set out to reduce delays in acute stroke care after recognizing that every minute untreated costs millions of brain cells. The challenge was to streamline communication among EMS, neurology, radiology, nursing, pharmacy and other departments so the right clinicians and resources could be mobilized before a patient even arrived.

Metro Health deployed the Vocera unified communication platform (hands-free badges and a smartphone app) to send pre-arrival notifications with patient context and to coordinate consults and transfers. As a result, median door-to-needle time fell from 53 to 28 minutes (a 47% improvement), door-to-groin time from 114 to 62 minutes (46% improvement), and door-to-recanalization from 148 to 125 minutes (15% improvement), saving roughly 48–50 million brain cells per patient and markedly improving chances for survival and discharge to home.

Metro Health

Thomas Fantin

Vice President of Information Technology