Abstract

Stroke is the leading cause of disability in the US, costing $34 billion a year and affecting 800,000 patients. Early detection and treatment is the best way to improve outcomes. Yet, 12.5% of strokes are discharged from the ED within the prior 30 days, with headache the most common diagnosis. Neuroimaging, ideally, would catch an impending stroke, but head CT has variable sensitivity based on onset of symptoms and there are both Federal and provider-led (including Choosing Wisely and the American College of Radiology Appropriateness Criteria (ACR-AC) initiatives to reduce overuse of imaging.

This study examined variation in ED treatment for patients presenting with a headache, particularly focusing on use of neuroimaging. Potential missed strokes were identified to determine if CT or MRI could have captured stroke.

Description

This dissertation has also been disseminated through the ProQuest Dissertations and Theses database. Dissertation/thesis number: 10792114; ProQuest document ID: 2056823419. The author still retains copyright.

Author Details

Elizabeth C. Heetderks-Fong, PhD, MSN, ACNP

Sigma Membership

Phi at-Large

Type

Dissertation

Format Type

Text-based Document

Study Design/Type

Observational

Research Approach

Mixed/Multi Method Research

Keywords:

Neuroimaging, Strokes, Headaches, Head CTs, Imaging Overuse Reduction

Advisor

Meg Johatgen

Second Advisor

Shijun Zhu

Degree

PhD

Degree Grantor

University of Maryland, Baltimore

Degree Year

2018

Rights Holder

All rights reserved by the author(s) and/or publisher(s) listed in this item record unless relinquished in whole or part by a rights notation or a Creative Commons License present in this item record.

All permission requests should be directed accordingly and not to the Sigma Repository.

All submitting authors or publishers have affirmed that when using material in their work where they do not own copyright, they have obtained permission of the copyright holder prior to submission and the rights holder has been acknowledged as necessary.

Review Type

None: Degree-based Submission

Acquisition

Proxy-submission

Date of Issue

2021-10-05

Full Text of Presentation

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