New TIA diagnostic protocol

From the ACEP News Release:

A new emergency department diagnostic protocol shows potential for saving money and time, as well as for dramatically reducing the number of hospital admissions for patients diagnosed with transient ischemic attack (TIA), or stroke. The study appears online in the Annals of Emergency Medicine ("An emergency department diagnostic protocol for patients with transient ischemic attack: a randomized controlled trial").

"Because TIAs tend to be so predictive of future, more serious strokes, many within a couple of days, emergency physicians hospitalize most TIA patients," said lead study author Michael A. Ross, MD, of William Beaumont Hospital in Royal Oak, Michigan. "By managing TIA patients using an accelerated diagnostic protocol in the emergency department, we were able to cut most patients' length of stays and costs in half without compromising their 90-day clinical outcomes. Besides freeing up inpatient beds, this should lead to greater patient satisfaction."

Click here to read the entire news release.