The Success of the Jefferson Mobile Stroke Unit: Alvin Wang, DO, BC-EMS

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“The greatest strength of our program is certainly in the partnerships that we have. My advice would be to engage early with potential partners as quickly as possible. One of the strengths of our program is that we had very early engagement from EMS.”

May 2022 marks the second anniversary of the Jefferson Health mobile stroke unit (MSU) program, and in celebration of that, the group held an EMS Education event in Bensalem, Pennsylvania, on May 19, to examine the progress that the program has made and share the experiences of the Bensalem EMS team that operates the unit.

Over the last 2 years, the use of the MSU has improved the care of patients in the area surrounding Philadelphia significantly, with faster times for both thrombectomy and to tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) application since its inception. Alvin Wang, DO, BC-EMS, chief, emergency medical services, Jefferson Health, sat down with NeurologyLive^® while at the event to discuss some of this progress.

Wang shared his perspective on the first 2 years of the MSU’s use, stressing the importance of getting buy-in from all stakeholders on the EMS team and the need to individualize the approach to MSUs based on the needs of the area and team. Additionally, he noted that the neurologist or neuroscience physician who connects with the team via telemedicine, and how that multidisciplinary approach is crucial to care.