Teams come together for better stroke care in Kamloops

Behind the scenes at a busy Kamloops hospital, support people, clinicians and doctors continue to work on improving care for patients by participating in simulation training for major medical procedures. 

This November, staff at Royal Inland Hospital spent a day in simulation training for systems improvement and training in the care of stroke patients. Participants included Emergency Department, Medical Imaging, switchboard, shift co-ordinators, physician leads and stroke patient care co-ordinators. 

Dr. Aleks Tkach, a vascular neurologist and medical director of stroke services for Interior Health, congratulated all the participants for supporting and raising awareness of simulation training.

He noted the excellent leadership of stroke patient care co-ordinator Lindsay Marriott who demonstrated improvement in organization, roles, flow, and communication to participants in new stroke protocol development.

“I cannot over emphasize the importance of nursing leadership for systems improvement and change. Lindsay is a perfect example of this in action at Royal Inland Hospital at a time where everything is stretched thin,” said Dr. Tkach.

Jaime Gallaher, regional knowledge co-ordinator, at the Rae Fawcett Simulation Centre, expressed her appreciation for the event with a tweet recognizing the “fabulous day” for developing a protocol that will make such a difference in recovery for stroke patients when they first arrive at the hospital.

Lindsay praised the willingness of the Emergency Department team to participate in the stroke simulations, as well as their open-minded approach in implementing the new stroke protocol.

“I am so thankful for their support and continued enthusiasm to use this new protocol and am eager to see first hand the benefits it provides for our stroke patient population,” said Lindsay. 

Cory Bendall, Interior Health Stroke Network director, stressed the importance of practising these procedures that bring several teams and disciplines together for an urgent response.

“With stroke, every moment matters,” she said.