Stroke is a leading cause of death and disability world-wide. Stroke systems of care, integrated approaches to stroke care delivery, and the availability of resources for stroke care vary considerably across geographic regions, creating a risk for sub-optimal care.
The World Health Organization has committed to efforts to significantly reduce risk factors and mortality from non-communicable diseases by 2025. Mortality and morbidity from stroke could be significantly reduced through organized stroke care, including the implementation of evidence-based clinical practice guidelines and adoption of a continuous quality improvement philosophy and programs.
Acute stroke care focuses the acute inpatient care period after the hyperacute stage is completed. This phase of care usually starts from about 24 hours after stroke onset through the first 5 to 7 days. In this phase the patient becomes medically stable and care goals shift to ongoing stroke assessment, determining etiology, management of persistent symptoms, initiating recovery, early rehabilitation, and prevention of acute complications. Acute stroke care ideally involves healthcare providers with expertise in stroke care and takes place in a clinic or hospital stroke unit or ward, but may occur in other community settings, including the home, based on resource and facility availability. Acute stroke care focuses the acute inpatient care period after the hyperacute stage is completed. This phase of care usually starts from about 24 hours after stroke onset through the first 5 to 7 days. In this phase the patient becomes medically stable and care goals shift to ongoing stroke assessment, determining etiology, management of persistent symptoms, initiating recovery, early rehabilitation, and prevention of acute complications. Acute stroke care ideally involves healthcare providers with expertise in stroke care and takes place in a clinic or hospital stroke unit or ward, but may occur in other community settings, including the home, based on resource and facility availability.
This roadmap provides the framework for the implementation, monitoring and evaluation of stroke services globally. It provides standardization and consistency for the selection of evidence-based recommendations, approaches to implementations in clinical practice, and the calculation of performance measures to create an environment of continuous quality improvement. Read more
Achieving our vision of a life free from stroke is a task that WSO cannot achieve alone. We are committed to building our partnerships at the global, regional and national level to scale up and deliver improvements in prevention, treatment and support to reduce the burden of stroke.
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