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The workflow in a stroke unit can be very high, and this is especially noticeable during evening and night shifts, where staffing is reduced but the patient’s need for frequent and intensive care is not. The specialised and standardised settings in a stroke regime are constant and demanding for healthcare providers who, therefore, must work efficiently. Patient admissions, acute situations and routine tasks are major contributors to the burden of work during evening and night shifts for junior doctors on call. Thus, it is important to reduce the number of potentially avoidable tasks done by these junior doctors during night shifts so they have more time to perform tasks of high priority. The aim of this project was to reduce the potentially avoidable tasks occurring at night for the on-call junior doctor to only one per shift. We investigated the types of tasks that frequently occur for the on-call junior doctor during the night shift and improved our daily morning and evening rounds to reduce the number of tasks during the night shift. Using the plan–do–study–act method, we made improvements through education, knowledge sharing, checklists and feedback, and we reduced the number of potentially avoidable tasks for on-call junior doctors from a median of 11 to a median of 3 per week, demonstrating that the workload for the on-call junior doctor during the night shift can be reduced through a systematic approach to improving the work routines of doctors and nurses.

Introduction Idarucizumab is a reversal agent for dabigatran etexilate. By reversing the anticoagulating effect of dabigatran etexilate with idarucizumab (Praxbind), patients presenting with an acute ischemic stroke can now be eligible for thrombolysis. Patient We describe our experience with idarucizumab in a 71-year-old male patient pretreated with dabigatran etexilate. The patient arrived with a hemiparesis, central facial palsy, and dysarthria. Method Dabigatran etexilate was antagonized with idarucizumab, approximately 2.5 hours after the patient's last dose. Immediately after the infusion of idarucizumab, the patient received thrombolytic therapy. Results The hemiparesis and the central facial palsy were fully remitted 3 days after the onset of symptoms, and the dysarthria was remitted 2 days afterwards. Discussion Non-vitamin K oral anticoagulants (NOACs) are widely used for the prevention of embolic stroke in patients with atrial fibrillation. Dabigatran etexilate is an oral thrombin inhibitor that can be reversed by idarucizumab. Idarucizumab, a monoclonal antibody fragment, directly binds dabigatran etexilate and neutralizes its activity. Conclusion Reversal of dabigatran etexilate using idarucizumab was safe and successful with no recombinant tissue plasminogen activator interactions.