December 2011 
Aurora St. Luke’s Medical Center, located in Milwaukee, Wisconsin is a 938 bed facility seeing approximately 33 strokes per month. As a quaternary hospital providing advanced health care to stroke patients Aurora St. Luke’s was awarded the Target: Stroke Honor Roll and certification as a Primary Stroke Center through the Joint Commission. 
 

When asked, what their proudest accomplishment was in regards to their stroke program, Dot Bluma, Coordinator, Care Management & Quality/Stroke Team RN stated, “The first time ASLMC administered IV t-PA in the 60 minute timeframe. It was such a collaborative accomplishment by ED MD & RN, Stroke Responders, Lab, Radiology & Quality Departments all working together to accomplish a common goal.”
 

In order to be successful with the Target: Stroke campaign, Aurora St. Luke’s practices according to the Ten Best Practice Strategies outlined through Target: Stroke but also took it a step further. This was accomplished by analyzing IV t-PA recipients’ cases in the Root Cause Analysis format. All departments who impact IV rtPA Door-to-Needle (DTN) times were invited to discuss the process and how they impact each moment of care the patient receives. Barriers to quick DTN times with possible solutions were discussed by all team members present. With this process, Aurora St. Luke’s Stroke team was able to highlight areas for improvement and strive to reach their goal of decreasing DTN times.