The hospital using Emergency Neurological Life Support or ENLS has successfully helped around 50 patients and 7 in the past one month alone from neurological emergencies.
Realizing the danger of permanent disability or death arising due of brain disorders, Wockhardt Hospital Mumbai Central becomes the first in India to start ENLS certified Brain Resuscitation services in the critical hours of neurological emergencies. It is the only Hospital across India with all 5 emergency doctors and 16 emergency nurses ENLS, USA certified.
ENLS is a common practice across the world, but is unfortunately still in its infancy in India. Giving neurological emergencies the importance they deserve, Dr Shirish Hastak Director, Neurology and stroke services at Wockhardt came up initially with the Code white Emergency measure.
Code white is a metaphoric alert button pushed by the emergency team in the hospital for acute stroke which is a part of the ENLS plan. On activation of Code White a brain resuscitation team reaches the emergency department within 5 minutes and within 15 minutes an imaging is done for proper diagnosis. Emergency Neurological Life Support (ENLS) plan will widen the scope beyond stroke and help healthcare professionals improve outcomes during the critical first hour of a neurological emergency. It creates a collaborative, multi-disciplinary approach and provides a consistent set of protocols, practical checklists, decision points and suggested communication for patient management. The emergencies in ENLS include not only stroke but also seizure, encephalopathy, traumatic brain/spine injury, brain infections and systematic approach to coma.
Dr Shirish Hastak, Director Neurology and stroke services at Wockhardt Hospital, Mumbai Central says, “All major hospitals in India have emergency cardiac life support as a basic training requirement for emergency doctors and nurses; hence heart emergencies are treated rapidly. Similarly, the brain is also a vital organ and in neurological emergencies needs urgent care and support, this has been neglected in the past. We have often seen that the vital time is lost in mobilizing neurological services in the hospital. In these past six months, the hospital using ENLS has successfully helped around 50 patients and 7 in the past one month alone. Brain Resuscitation (ENLS) is for patients with neurological emergencies in the first hour of their care. In India this care is neglected, so we would suggest ENLS as a requirement in all tertiary care medical centres across India to help patients recover in the best possible way.” He further added, “A five-minute seizure is quite different from a 30-minute seizure. It can create a huge difference in the morbidity of a patient. Even a stroke treated at two hours is different from the one treated at four hours and this can change the outcome. Imagine a young patient paralyzed by a stroke if not treated in time. Doctors brain used in time is equal to a patient’s brain saved in time.”
