The 30-Minute Challenge: A Quality Improvement Bundle for Stroke Patients Executive Summary

Abstract

Meeting the American Heart Association’s guidelines for acute ischemic stroke (AIS) management is essential to reduce disability and mortality. Variability in team communication, role clarity, and procedural readiness can contribute to delays in endovascular therapy (EVT). This quality improvement project aimed to increase a procedural team’s confidence, perceptions of teamwork, and competence in performing EVT for patients with AIS. The intervention bundle included Team Strategies and Tools to Enhance Performance and Patient Safety (TeamSTEPPS™) education to strengthen communication and coordination, immersive simulation to reinforce role clarity and procedural sequencing, and foundational knowledge testing to ensure baseline competency across team members. Staff perceptions of teamwork and confidence were measured using the TeamSTEPPS™ Teamwork Perceptions Questionnaire (T-TPQ) before and after implementation. Although improvements in these domains were not statistically significant, the project demonstrated success. Procedural performance showed meaningful improvement, with door‑to‑device (DTD) times decreasing by 34.8% following implementation of the bundled interventions. This reduction reflects enhanced workflow efficiency and more reliable execution of critical steps in the EVT process. The findings suggest that bundling evidence-based team education, simulation‑based practice, and competency assessment can strengthen team preparedness and improve the timeliness of emergent stroke care. Bundled quality improvement initiatives may offer a scalable approach for organizations seeking to optimize EVT readiness and align with national AIS care benchmarks.