This is why YOU need to remove subjective determination of stroke, YOU are going to have to get that changed in your hospital. Your hospital has been doing nothing about this for years.
For example all the misdiagnosed young adult strokes.
young adult strokes (53 posts to December 2012)
stroke misdiagnosis (10 posts to May 2017)
Another reason to switch to artificial intelligence to diagnose strokes. Maybe one of these much faster methods:
Hats off to Helmet of Hope - stroke diagnosis in 30 seconds
Microwave Imaging for Brain Stroke Detection and Monitoring using High Performance Computing in 94 seconds
New Device Quickly Assesses Brain Bleeding in Head Injuries - 5-10 minutes
The latest here:
Auckland man dies from stroke after being misdiagnosed with a migraine
Edwin Donald Amundsen, 57, died at Auckland's Middlemore Hospital on
October 15, 2015, just two days after he sought treatment for sudden
loss of vision and a persistent headache.
According to a coroner's report into his death, the father-of-three may have survived if he had not been misdiagnosed.
The report identified several "missed opportunities" for diagnosis and
treatment by multiple medical staff at Counties Manukau and Auckland
DHBs – however, the most critical issue was that Amundsen was not seen
by a specialist neurologist early enough, it said.
READ MORE:
* Unwell prisoner should have been taken to hospital 'immediately' - coroner
* Doctors misdiagnose woman's strokes as ear infection, send her home 3 times
* In your 40s and think you won't suffer a stroke? It happened to me
* Unwell prisoner should have been taken to hospital 'immediately' - coroner
* Doctors misdiagnose woman's strokes as ear infection, send her home 3 times
* In your 40s and think you won't suffer a stroke? It happened to me
Middlemore Hospital does not have an on-site neurology team. However,
at the time of Amundsen's death, a neurologist from Auckland City
Hospital visited three mornings a week.
Coroner Katharine Greig said the problems were systemic and "no one person is 'to blame'".
The report said Amundsen first realised something was wrong while he
was reading the newspaper on October 12, 2015 and noticed words on the
pages were "missing".
His vision was blurry and later in the day he developed a constant headache.
The next morning, Amundsen, who lived in Kawakawa Bay, south Auckland, went to his GP.
Believing he may have a brain bleed, the doctor referred Amundsen to
Middlemore Hospital, where he was assessed by a sixth-year medical
student intern and senior medical officer Dr Michael Rosen.
Stuff-co-nz
Middlemore Hospital, where Amundsen was treated, does not have specialist neurology services (file photo).
Amundsen had blood tests, a CT scan and a chest x-ray before Rosen diagnosed him with a "severe atypical migraine".
After spending the night in Middlemore, Amundsen went to Greenlane
Hospital's acute eye clinic where he had further tests, which failed to
find a cause for his symptoms.
He was discharged later that afternoon.
About midday on October 15, Rosen phoned Amundsen to check on him.
Amundsen said he still had a headache and his vision was worsening. Rosen told him to return to the hospital immediately.
While Amundsen's wife was driving him back to Middlemore, he started vomiting and became unresponsive.
An ambulance was called and he was rushed to the hospital's emergency
department and referred to the stroke team, as his condition was
worsening.
Amundsen had a decreased level of consciousness, weakness in his right
arm and leg and an unsteady gait. He was also nauseous and slightly
disoriented, the report said.
He had an urgent CT scan which was more comprehensive than the first and showed evidence of a stroke, it said.
Staff then called a neurologist at Auckland City Hospital, who recommended Amundsen have another CT scan.
That showed the stroke was worsening. Amundsen died later that night.
Forensic pathologist Dr Deborah Johnson and associate professor and
consultant neurologist Annemarei Ranta, an expert on strokes who
provided advice to the coroner, both concluded Amundsen's death was
caused by a stroke.
SUPPLIED/123RF
A
radiologist who assesed a scan of Amundsen's brain failed to pick up
changes which indicated he was having a stroke (file photo).
Ranta reviewed the CT scans and spotted "subtle" changes to Amundsen's
brain in the first one which the radiologist failed to pick up.
"A clinical stroke very likely was present and probably missed," she said.
Ranta believed this should have been noticed and likely would have been if Amundsen had been referred to a neurologist earlier.
In her report, Greig said: "Tragically... layers of weakness and holes
in the system aligned with the result that harm was caused to Mr
Amundsen in that he lost the opportunity for earlier diagnosis and
treatment."
In light of the case, the coroner recommended Counties Manukau DHB review its protocols for specialist neurology care.
The DHB did so and found the referral processes adequate.
However, a neurologist from Auckland City Hospital was now at Middlemore every weekday, the report said.
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