Stroke Quality Measures
Patient and community education programs: availability and type
According to the latest statistics from the AmericanStroke Association:
- Each year about 700,000 people have a new or recurrent stroke.
- Stroke killed approximately 158,000 people in 2005.
- Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the US.
- Millions of brain cells die each minute stroke is untreated.
Symptoms of a stroke include the following:
- sudden numbness or weakness of the face, arm, or leg, especially on one side of the body;
- sudden confusion, trouble speaking or understanding;
- sudden trouble seeing in one or both eyes;
- sudden trouble walking, dizziness or loss of balance or coordination;
- sudden severe headache with no known cause.
“Only about one-third of patients who are having a stroke are aware of its symptoms, and most bystanders are not knowledgeable about the signs of stroke” (New England Journal of Medicine, September 7, 2000: 343(10); 710-722).
A person experiencing a stroke may be unaware of the stroke symptoms or unable to communicate and it is often bystanders who initiate communication for stroke care (Archives of Internal Medicine, October 13, 2003: 163(18); 2198-2202).
Studies have shown an increase in public awareness of stroke symptoms and the need for emergent stroke treatment, as well as improvement in stroke care delivery after certain types of community educational interventions (Archives of Internal Medicine, October 13, 2003: 163(18); 2198-2202); Stroke, August 2003: 34(8); 1968-1969; Critical Care Nursing Quarterly, October/November/December 2003: 26(4); 316-322).
The pooled results of three major tissue plasminogen activator (tPA) trials confirmed that early stroke treatment is strongly associated with favorable stroke outcomes (NOTE: tPA is “clot-buster” medication used to treat ischemic stroke in certain situations.) (The Lancet, March 6, 2004: 363(9411); 768-74).