Assessment of stroke

Assessment involves firstly identification that a problem exists, and secondly quantification. It is needed for both routine purposes and research. The research purposes--assessment tool--should be valid, reliable, repeatable and sensitive. It is also important that the assessment should be comprehensive--not missing out essential elements. In clinical practice, the use of Check-list may be helpful. In research, formal assessment procedures are required. The precise assessment tools to be used will depend very much on the research question being asked.