Effect of Office Hours on TIA and Minor Stroke Treatment

Transient ischemic attack (TIA), which is a brief stroke that occurs when the brain’s blood supply is interrupted, is often a warning sign that a more serious stroke is possible in the future. Symptoms of TIA, or minor stroke, include numbness or weakness in the face, arm, or leg (especially on one side of the body), difficulty speaking or understanding speech, confusion, difficulty walking, dizziness, loss of balance and coordination and trouble seeing in one or both eyes. When TIA occurs, immediate medical attention is necessary to determine what caused the stroke and to figure out what form of treatment would benefit the patient most. However, in a study recently published in the British Medical Journal, researchers found that patients that experienced a minor stroke during non-office hours waited significantly longer to receive medical attention. An estimated 91,000 participants were included in the study from 2002 to 2006, all of which had experienced TIA. Researchers looked at whether a patient had a stroke while their doctor’s office was open or closed, comparing the time those patients waited to get medical attention for their stroke symptoms. For study participants that had experienced stroke symptoms during office hours, the median time waited to call a doctor was 4 hours, with the majority of participants having called their doctor within 24 hours. But, for patients that had experienced TIA symptoms while their doctor's office was closed, the median time waited to call their doctor was 24.8 hours, which did not include those who called or visited an emergency room. This extreme variation in time clearly shows how a closed office may significantly effect when treatment is received by patients experiencing symptoms of a stroke.

Participants that had experienced TIA on a weekday were far more likely to call their general practitioner within 24 hours than those who had their stroke on Saturday or Sunday. In fact, some of the participants that had experienced their stroke during non-office hours did not contact their doctor or a hospital until they had experienced a second stroke. After reviewing the results of the study, researchers reported that had there been a doctor’s office open 7 days a week from 8 a.m. to 8 p.m., about 75 of those patients that had experienced stroke symptoms while offices were closed would have received treatment much earlier, with the median time dropping from 50.1 to 4.0 hours. In addition, the number of patients that would have called their doctor within a 24 hour window would have doubled. With an increase in the availability of treatment for patients experiencing TIA during non-office hours, it may be possible for these patients to lessen the effects of their stroke. If you or a loved one has been the victim of stroke malpractice in New York as a result of a delay in diagnosis or treatment, call the attorneys at Silberstein, Awad & Miklos, P.C. Our firm serves clients with Bronx medical malpractice, Brooklyn medical malpractice, Queens medical malpractice, Nassau medical malpractice and Nassau medical malpractice cases. Call today for your free consultation.

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