Non-office-hours admission affects intravenous thrombolysis treatment times and clinical outcome

2018

In patients treated with intravenous thrombolysis (IVT), an unfavourable ‘non-office-hours effect’ on door-to-needle time (DNT) and clinical outcome has been suggested. This effect has been attributed to a number of factors, mostly related to either less efficient logistics or less (experienced) staffing during non-office hours (NH). These factors could result in longer DNTs and more protocol violations and thus in worse clinical outcome. On the other hand, one could also argue that the workload during NH is lower, which could result in less time delays in the various diagnostic processes and thus in better clinical outcome. Our hypothesis is that admission during NH has a negative effect o…