Join's coordinated stroke care

“Until recently, most cerebral infactions led to disabilities or patients becoming bedridden. Today, as long as treatment is administered within a few hours from the onset of a stroke, many patients are able to live self-supporting lives.

When a stroke occurs, what is most important are diagnostic images. In the past, as I was not able to access the images, I used to try explain it verbally over the phone. With Join, we can now share not only our words, but especially medical images as well. Our clinical decisions became more precise and we were able to reduce the time of patient transfer decision and treatment. We were a bit concerned about using smartphones for diagnosing at first, but once implemented, we realized that Join’s image viewer is excellent and by no means is inferior to what you can see in the hospital.

Current treatments either administer a drug called tPA, or use catheters to reopen clogged blood vessels. However, neither treatment is readily available in regional hospitals. Our prefecture has the second lowest number of physicians per population in Japan and, especially in rural areas, the shortage of doctors is severe. Through Join, we can connect hospital in rural reas to those in city centers, so patients can be quickly transferred to facilities with the latest treatments, even in areas where physicians may be scarce. I believe all of this has been made possible by introducing Join.”