Sixty-two percent of Gainesville-based University of Florida Health’s stroke patients are treated within 90 minutes — far higher than the national average of 10%.
It’s all thanks to the system’s mobile stroke treatment unit program, one of less than 20 of its kind in the nation, and the only one in Florida.
“Traditionally, EMS providers are trained to rapidly transport suspected stroke patients to the hospital as quickly as possible,” Nicolle Davis, PhD, RN, director of the mobile stroke program, said in an upcoming episode of Becker’s “Cardiology and Heart Surgery Podcast.” “With the mobile stroke unit, we are able to bring the hospital directly to the patient.”
The UF Health Mobile Stroke Treatment Unit is a specialty-equipped ambulance equipped with a portable CT scanner, telemedicine technology and stroke-specific medications. It is staffed by a stroke-trained registered nurse, CT technologist, paramedic and EMT operator who connects to a vascular neurologist via telemedicine. The ambulance is integrated into each county’s 911 dispatching system and responds alongside traditional EMS resources if there is a suspected stroke emergency. If a patient has signs or symptoms of a stroke, the unit can immediately begin a stroke workup on scene.
The system launched the program in Gainesville in July 2023, added a second unit in June 2025 in Jacksonville and opened a third unit a month later in The Villages.
The unit has dramatically improved time to treatment, Janice Walker, DHA, BSN, RN, system nursing officer and senior vice president, said. Among stroke patients, 34% were treated within the golden hour, and patients received thrombolytics about one hour sooner than those transported through traditional EMS. The time savings have translated directly to better patient outcomes, with a 30% increase in the likelihood of being discharged directly to home, a two-day shorter hospital length of stay, and a 45% decrease in mortality.
“The UF Health Mobile Stroke Program can help redefine what is possible in emergency stroke treatment,” Dr. Davis said.
Listen to this podcast and more here.
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