D2D Visit Report – Kunduz Karbozova, Austria

It was a great pleasure to spend one week in the Neurology Department of Keppler University in Linz where I met the perfect team in stroke unit.

Under the supervision of Dr. Milan Vosco and his team, as a representative of the ESO EAST in Kyrgyzstan, I had a great chance to see with my own eyes how the stroke service and stroke management was organized in Upper Austria. During my visit, I had the opportunity to watch and participate in the doctor’s routine work in the emergency department, stroke unit, neurovascular sonography lab and neuroimaging department.

I spent the first days in the stroke department, which is located in the university hospital. Every morning began with a round table and discussion of patients and general plans. Next, the patients were examined in the ward round. I was also lucky to see how the emergency department works on duty day and even managed to admit patients with a possible stroke. The patient is admitted through the ambulance line and brought to the hospital, where a neurologist in the emergency room conducts an initial neurological examination and then sends for neuroimaging. While the initial examination is being carried out, nurses take blood tests for examinations. After neuroimaging, the patient is sent to the stroke unit. In the stroke department, from the very first days, active rehabilitation is carried out by a multidisciplinary team: ergotherapist, speech therapist and rehabilitator.

One day I spent in the neurocampus, in the stroke department, where I could see the organization of transportation and delivery of a patient with a stroke from a remote region by helicopter. This patient then underwent a thrombectomy procedure with a successful outcome.

I learned a many new key tips regarding stroke care, and will share with my colleagues and try to implement some of these in our stroke departments.

I would like to express my deepest gratitude to all the staff from the Neurology Department of Keppler University for their hospitality and courtesy (both professional and personal), with a special word of appreciation to Dr. Milan Vosko and Dr. Kateryna Kulyk.

I am very much honoured that the European Stroke Organization granted me for this Department to Department programme and I would like to thank the ESO for this brilliant opportunity to gained more knowledge in stroke management.