Visualizing Acute Stroke Data to Improve Clinical Outcomes

Acute stroke care has highly time-dependent treatments that require teams of personnel to achieve good outcomes. It is estimated that for every minute the middle cerebral artery remains blocked in an ischemic stroke, 1.9 million neurons are lost.1 Reducing the variance and improving door-to-needle (DTN) time for thrombolysis and time from computed tomography (CT)-to-groin puncture for endovascular therapy will improve outcomes for patients with stroke.1–5 Therefore, reducing variance and improving treatment times are critical components for quality assurance efforts in stroke care. Feedback of DTN performance data has been used in quality improvement initiatives for acute stroke treatment.6,7 In a similar manner, we have observed that the first step of simply providing healthcare personnel with their measured metrics is an inducement to improve and work faster. However, the acute stroke performance data need to be presented in manner that is easy to understand, and it should be available through commonly used modalities to facilitate widespread use. Background on Information VisualizationInformation visualization is a discipline in its own right that combines graphical display in static or dynamic form to reveal a new understanding of data. In clinical medicine, novel methods of information visualization can lead to improved clinical outcomes at both the population and individual levels.8 Famously, in the mid-1800s, John Snow was able to isolate a contaminated water-well and show that cholera was water born by mapping the location and frequency of cholera infections in London’s Soho district.9 Florence Nightingale used her rose petal graphic to show the rise in mortality because of hospital-acquired infections during the Crimean war.10 Simplifying clinical concepts into graphics that are easy to understand can provide insight into the causes of poor health outcomes and lead to positive changes. Visualizations in Health CareThere has been a rise in the use of …