Acute Stroke Action Program (ASAP)

Join the Acute Stroke Action Program (ASAP), an opportunity for WUMS 1s and 2s to carry the acute stroke pager for 1-2 weeks and race to the ED along with the stroke team to observe the hyperacute management of patients experiencing a stroke. Students will be able to go about their regular daily routine and only run to the ED when a potential candidate for thrombolytic therapy (tPA) arrives and the stroke pager is activated. This occurs 0-4 times per day, averaging out to once a day. Students who live close enough could come in for night pages too if desired. For patients who are found to have a proximal thrombus and are taken to the angiography suite for mechanical clot retrieval, interested students could observe the intervention from just outside the room, where everything is visible, including real-time angiographic images.

Learning objectives of the program:

Recognize historical features, exam findings, and imaging findings of acute stroke.
Explain how eligibility for tPA administration and mechanical thrombectomy in acute stroke is determined.
Observe/calculate the NIH Stroke Scale as it is performed in a patient with acute stroke.
Describe how consent to administer tPA is obtained.
Appraise the acute stroke treatment process and identify factors that introduced delays.

Interested?

Then come to the introductory meeting – Wednesday, September 7th at 1:30pm in 207 FLTC! We are so excited that all available spots have been filled for this year!

Please RSVP to Chrissy McIntosh at c.mcintosh@wustl.edu