A retrospective pilot study on patients who deteriorated while admitted to a neurovascular ward

Abstract

The purpose of this pilot study was to collect information on the circumstances of care for neuroscience inpatients who were referred to a rapid response team for recognised deterioration, and to explore the appropriateness of the tools used to collect that information. A quantitative descriptive study design was employed to retrospectively review 30 patient charts from a quaternary centre in Canada. Two nurse reviewers independently collected the data and non-inferential statistics were analysed to provide a broad picture of the characteristics of patients who had deteriorated. The underlying cause of deterioration for the majority of patients was not the result of neurological sequelae, but rather due to secondary medical complications. Aspiration pneumonia was the leading medical complication, followed by sepsis. Patients with central nervous system lesions are at significant risk of aspiration pneumonia, an often-overlooked secondary complication, which requires vigilance in the neuroscience nurse in order to prevent. The tools used to collect this information will require further refining to be useful for a larger, prospective study.