At the hospital: Outcome 3

The relative advantages of being admitted to a stroke unit are –

• Specialised multidisciplinary stroke care: True– stroke units have multidisciplinary staff who have specialist skills in stroke
• Increased recovery rate: True– stroke units have been proven to increase the rate of recovery for patients with stroke care
• Better food: False– this may or may not be the case
• Reduced death and dependency: True– stroke unit care has been shown to reduce the numbers of death and dependency compared to care in general medical wards
• Specialist trained staff: True– staff in specialist stroke units undertake specialist stroke education
• Early assessment: True– stroke unit care includes early assessment of the patients signs and symptoms and of rehabilitation needs
• Cleanliness: False – other wards are a similar level of cleanliness to stroke units
• Coordinated weekly meetings: True– stroke units have regular weekly meetings for the multidisciplinary team which have been shown to improve patient outcome
• Early goal setting: True– stroke unit care includes early goal setting which involves the patient in their treatment
• Proximity to therapy departments: False– stroke units are not necessarily any nearer to these facilities
• Early assessment of discharge needs: True– stroke unit care includes early assessment of discharge needs and involves the patient and carer(s) in discharge planning
• Routine provision of information: True– staff in stroke units routinely provide information for patients and their carers