Acute Ischemic Stroke: A Case Study

Early treatment of acute ischemic stroke

Introduction

Each year ischemic strokes account for 87% of all strokes in the United States being the leading cause of disability (American Heart Association [AHA], 2013). Preventable disabilities related to strokes not only decrease the quality of life, but also cause a significant financial impact on a community. Early treatment of acute ischemic strokes with thrombolytic therapy or mechanical interventions helps to improve patient outcomes and decrease disability (Ashraf, Maneesh, Praveenkumar, Saifudheen, & Girija, 2015). Time is brain, thus let us get to it!

Current setting

Recently, our hospital has passed the re-accreditation from the Healthcare Facilities Accreditation Program (HFAP) which allows

Implementation of EBP The hospital is currently in the process of designing the necessary steps.

Evaluation

Once the hospital implements the new stroke process the data will need to be collected to reflect the evidence on the effectiveness of EBP. One of the means is the retrieval of data through the reported metrics to ASA database on all stroke patients receiving the treatment at the hospital. One of the major outcome measures would be the future re-accreditation by HFAP. The role of an advanced practice nurse will allow to collect the evidence and propose the necessary alterations. Once the project in place an APN involved in acute care setting can assist in advocating and instituting the EBP into the current

The implementation of various guidelines in the health care intends to target some of the IOM major aims, thus improving the quality of health care related to that