Quality of stroke care at an Irish Regional General Hospital and Stroke Rehabilitation Unit.
BACKGROUND
Robust international data support the effectiveness of stroke unit (SU) care. Despite this, most stroke care in Ireland are provided outside of this setting. Limited data currently exist on the quality of care provided.


OBJECTIVE
The aim of this study is to examine the quality of care for patients with stroke in two care settings-Regional General Hospital (RGH) and Stroke Rehabilitation Unit (SRU).


METHODS
A retrospective analysis of the stroke records of consecutive patients admitted to the SRU between May-November 2002 and April-November 2004 was performed applying the UK National Sentinel Audit of Stroke (NSAS) tool.


RESULTS
The results of the study reveal that while SRU processes of care was 74% compliant with standards; compliance with stroke service organisational standards was only 15 and 43% in the RGH and SRU, respectively.


CONCLUSIONS
The quality of stroke care in our area is deficient. Comprehensive reorganisation of stroke services is imperative.
Walsh
T
T
Department Medicine for the Elderly, Clinical Age Assessment Unit, Mid-Western Regional Hospital, Dooradoyle, Limerick, Ireland. thomaswalsh_3@hotmail.com
Browne
J
J
Ugwu
E
E
O' Riordan
R
R
Lyons
D
D
D000368:Aged; D019992:Databases as Topic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006769:Hospitals, General / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D006801:Humans; D007362:Intensive Care Units / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D007494:Ireland; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D008875:Middle Aged; D011787:Quality of Health Care / Q000592:standards / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D020521:Stroke / Q000188:drug therapy*