title: Research to practice: nursing stroke assessment guidelines link to clinical performance indicators.
abstract: Stroke is the fourth leading cause of death in Canada and, each year, approximately 50,000 Canadians will suffer a stroke with a range of severities from mild, short duration symptoms to significant long-term disability or death. Of these 50,000 patients, at least 20,000 are hospitalized. Earlier this year, a core set of evidence-based performance indicators were identified by a national consensus panel that may be used to determine the quality of care provided to stroke patients in hospital during the acute phase of illness. Nurses play a critical role in stroke care across the continuum and recently published stroke assessment guidelines for nurses clearly describe key approaches to assessment and/or screening of stroke survivors. Many of the nursing assessments and/or screening actions recommended in the guidelines have direct or indirect associations with the recent performance indicators. This article describes where those relationships exist and the role nurses may play in determining overall performance for acute stroke patient care delivery during the hospitalization phase of the stroke continuum of care.
authors: Department of Health Policy, Management and Evaluation, University of Toronto.
authors: M Patrice
authors: MP
authors: Lindsay
authors: Linda
authors: L
authors: Kelloway
authors: Heather
authors: H
authors: McConnell
mesh_terms: D000208:Acute Disease; D019985:Benchmarking; D002170:Canada / Q000453:epidemiology; D003266:Continuity of Patient Care / Q000592:standards; D004059:Diffusion of Innovation; D004282:Documentation / Q000592:standards; D019317:Evidence-Based Medicine; D019983:Guideline Adherence / Q000592:standards*; D006760:Hospitalization; D006801:Humans; D033181:Information Dissemination; D008403:Mass Screening / Q000451:nursing; D009460:Neurologic Examination / Q000451:nursing; D024802:Nurse's Role; D009730:Nursing Assessment / Q000379:methods / Q000592:standards*; D015403:Nursing Evaluation Research; D009737:Nursing Records / Q000592:standards; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D017410:Practice Guidelines as Topic / Q000592:standards*; D019984:Quality Indicators, Health Care / Q000592:standards*; D012720:Severity of Illness Index; D020521:Stroke / Q000145:classification / Q000401:mortality / Q000451:nursing*