Development and Pilot Testing of 24/7 In-Ambulance Telemedicine for Acute Stroke: Prehospital Stroke Study at the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel-Project.

Background: In-ambulance telemedicine is a recently developed and a promising approach to improve emergency care. We implemented the first ever 24/7 in-ambulance telemedicine service for acute stroke. We report on our experiences with the development and pilot testing of the Prehospital Stroke Study at the Universitair Ziekenhuis Brussel (PreSSUB) to facilitate a wider spread of the knowledge regarding this technique.

Feasibility of AmbulanCe-Based Telemedicine (FACT) study: safety, feasibility and reliability of third generation in-ambulance telemedicine.

Background: Telemedicine is currently mainly applied as an in-hospital service, but this technology also holds potential to improve emergency care in the prehospital arena. We report on the safety, feasibility and reliability of in-ambulance teleconsultation using a telemedicine system of the third generation.

Methods: A routine ambulance was equipped with a system for real-time bidirectional audio-video communication, automated transmission of vital parameters, glycemia and electronic patient identification.

Prehospital unassisted assessment of stroke severity using telemedicine: a feasibility study.

Background And Purpose: We evaluated the feasibility and the reliability of remote stroke severity quantification in the prehospital setting using the Unassisted TeleStroke Scale (UTSS) via a telestroke ambulance system and a fourth-generation mobile network.

Methods: The technical feasibility and the reliability of the UTSS were studied in healthy volunteers mimicking 41 stroke syndromes during ambulance transportation.

Results: Except for 1 issue, high-quality telestroke assessment was feasible in all scenarios.