title: [Plan for stroke healthcare delivery].
abstract: BACKGROUND
  All stroke patients should receive the same degree of specialized healthcare attention according to the stage of their disease, independently of where they live, their age, gender or ethnicity.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To create an organized healthcare system able to offer the needed care for each patient, optimizing the use of the existing resource.
  
  
  METHODS
  A committee of 14 neurologists specialized in neurovascular diseases representing different regions of Spain evaluated the available scientific evidence according to the published literature.
  
  
  RESULTS
  During the acute phase, all stroke patients must be evaluated in hospitals that offer access to specialized physicians (neurologists) and the indicated diagnostic and therapeutic procedures. Hospitals that deliver care to acute stroke patients must be prepared to attend these patients and need to arrange a predefined transferring circuit coordinated with the extrahospitalary emergency service. Since resources are limited, they should be structured into different care levels according to the target population. Thus, three types of hospitals will be defined for stroke care: reference stroke hospital, hospital with stroke unit, hospital with stroke team.
authors.affiliation: Servicio de Neurología, Hospital Universitario Vall d'Hebron, Barcelona. josalvar@vhebron.net
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Alvarez Sabín
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Alonso de Leciñana
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Gállego
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gil-Peralta
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Casado
authors.forename: J
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Castillo
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Díez Tejedor
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Gil
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Jiménez
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Lago
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Martínez-Vila
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Ortega
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Rebollo
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Rubio
mesh_terms: D003695:Delivery of Health Care / Q000458:organization & administration; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration; D020521:Stroke / Q000628:therapy*