title: Eligibility of stroke units in Poland for administration of intravenous thrombolysis.
abstract: Systemic thrombolysis treatment was approved in Poland in 2003 and should be performed in specialist stroke units (SU). We performed a survey to determine stroke service preparedness for thrombolysis treatment in Poland. We sent a questionnaire evaluating the neurological departments in Poland, where stroke patients are treated. We divided them into four categories: (i) class A SU (fulfilling criteria of the National Program for Stroke Prevention and Therapy and European Stroke Initiative guidelines), (ii) class B (conditionally fulfilling criteria), (iii) class C (not fulfilling criteria), and (iv) departments without SU. Only class A units are eligible for implementing thrombolysis. We obtained response from 194 of 222 (87.4%) departments; 90 (46.4%) declared having an SU. According to criteria, 20 class A, 56 class B, 14 class C. During one year, 71 208 patients were admitted to hospitals; 69,982 (98.2%) to neurological departments. A total of 10,959 (15.4%) were treated in class A SU, 23,650 (33.2%) in class B, 5153 (7.2%) in class C, whereas 30,220 (42.4%) in neurological departments without SU. Our survey showed that only 15.4% stroke patients in Poland are admitted to high-quality SU, where thrombolysis may potentially be administered. Improvement of SU quality in Poland is necessary for wide implementation of new methods of stroke therapy.
authors.affiliation: 2nd Department of Neurology, Institute of Psychiatry and Neurology, Warsaw, Poland.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Członkowska
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Sarzyńska-Długosz
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Niewada
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Kobayashi
mesh_terms: D004185:Disability Evaluation; D019538:Health Care Surveys; D006297:Health Services Accessibility / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006757:Hospital Units / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000600:supply & distribution; D006801:Humans; D007276:Injections, Intraventricular / Q000379:methods; D010043:Outcome and Process Assessment, Health Care; D010348:Patient Care Team; D011044:Poland / Q000453:epidemiology; D020521:Stroke / Q000453:epidemiology* / Q000628:therapy; D011795:Surveys and Questionnaires; D015912:Thrombolytic Therapy / Q000379:methods