Knowledge of Thrombolytic Therapy Amongst Hospital Staff

Abstract

Background and Purpose— In-hospital stroke is associated with slower access to thrombolysis than community-occurring stroke. It has been suggested that lack of knowledge regarding appropriate stroke response among hospital staff may contribute to delays in referral, assessment, and treatment of in-hospital stroke. Method— A survey was conducted among hospital ward staff members using the Stroke Awareness Questionnaire, which was adapted for use among hospital staff to assess their knowledge of stroke symptoms, acute treatments, and hospital protocols for treatment of stroke. Results— Ninety-six staff members were interviewed, 81% of whom were clinical staff (medical, nursing, allied health professionals). Ninety-two percent of staff could name ≥3 stroke symptoms. Only 49% of staff were aware of thrombolysis treatment, and only 48% could identify the time window for thrombolysis administration, with staff from stroke-related specialties likely to name thrombolysis as an acute treatment for stroke (71%; odds ratio =3.36, 95% confidence interval 1.17–9.61) and identify the correct treatment window (71%; odds ratio =3.55, 95% confidence interval 1.24–10.16). Only 52% of staff on general wards were aware of an in-hospital stroke protocol. Conclusions— Hospital staff had adequate knowledge of stroke signs and symptoms; however, there was low awareness of thrombolysis therapy and its correct treatment time window among hospital staff. Targeted educational programmes among hospital staff regarding stroke are required to optimize acute stroke care.

The Knowledge of Nurses about Evidence-based Guideline in Patients with Acute Ischemic Stroke

“…Despite of the result of the current study, the other studies showed that the most of nurses employed in large hospitals had well aware of AIS symptoms, treatment with tPA and control of vital sign in this patients. Also few of them had sufficient knowledge about the timing of thrombolytic drug administration [15,26]. The reasons for this contradiction may be the difference in the number of study samples and their clinical exposure to these patients, organizational culture and hospital routines in applying the guidelines and the method used for sampling compared to other studies.…”

Intravenous thrombolysis for patients with in‐hospital stroke onset: propensity‐matched analysis from the Safe Implementation of Treatments in Stroke‐East registry

“…The paradoxical effect between early stroke recognition and delayed treatment administration, due to the perception that there is sufficient time before the end of the thrombolytic window, is a known phenomenon in acute stroke care . Additionally, according to the results of a stroke awareness questionnaire survey, even though physicians and nurses have adequate knowledge of stroke signs and symptoms, there is low awareness regarding swift tPA administration for stroke occurring during hospitalization for another medical condition, with only 52% of the staff on general wards reporting awareness of an IHS protocol . Given that there is a clear benefit of endovascular reperfusion therapies in patients with AIS with emergent large‐vessel occlusions, either with or without pre‐treatment with systemic thrombolysis , there is also an urge to increase in‐hospital awareness regarding endovascular reperfusion therapies as highly relevant treatment options in the setting of emergent large‐vessel occlusion and especially for patients with IHS who, due to prevalent comorbidities, might be ineligible for IVT.…”

Chinese neurologists’ perspective on intravenous thrombolysis for acute ischemic stroke

“…However, only few studies investigated the use of thrombolysis from the perspective of physicians. All of them were qualitative studies and conducted in developed countries, such as the United States, Canada, and several European countries (Bobrow et al., ; Brown, Barsan, Lisabeth, Gallery, & Morgenstern, ; Katzan, Sila, & Furlan, ; Leira, Pary, Davis, Grimsman, & Adams, ; Mellon, Hasan, Lee, Williams, & Hickey, ; Shamy & Jaigobin, ; Villar‐Cordova et al., ). Therefore, we conducted a cross‐sectional survey among neurologists in Hubei Province in China to understand their perspective toward IV thrombolysis for the treatment of AIS and the influencing factors.…”