Effects of introducing an allied health assessment pro forma on the management of acute stroke patients.

PURPOSE: There is a small body of evidence that supports the use of care pathways and assessment pro formas for the management of acute stroke patients, however, such tools applied specifically to the allied health disciplines are not in widespread use. This study sought to evaluate the effects of introducing an assessment pro forma on the allied health management of acute stroke patients.

METHODS

The allied health management of 40 consecutive stroke patients admitted after the introduction of the assessment pro forma was compared with that of a historical control group of the same size. The quality of allied health management was assessed by a variety of measures including the quality of documentation, the inclusion of specific recommended assessment components, the use of standardised assessment tools or outcome measures and the use of specific recommended interventions. These outcomes were used to calculate a total score for each of the allied health disciplines and the combined area of upper limb management, which were then used for analysis.

RESULTS

At baseline, there was no statistically significant difference between the control and intervention groups. After the intervention, total allied health scores increased for all disciplines and for the upper limb management section. These increases were statistically significant for all disciplines (p < 0.001, respectively) except speech therapy (p = 0.139).

CONCLUSION

This small study demonstrated that the use of an assessment pro forma specifically for the allied health disciplines may improve the management of acute stroke patients in terms of quality of documentation, and the use of specific assessment and treatment processes of care.