Sensory perceptual problems following stroke. The "invisible" deficits

Knowledge of assessment and intervention strategies for sensory perceptual problems empowers the nurse and enhances the standard of care patients will receive. Awareness leads to the development of a plan of care with realistic goals and interventions that set the patient up to succeed. Some interventions are subtle and underrated but give substance to the vague concepts of support and reassurance. These include simplifying and structuring the environment, promoting information processing, providing for patient safety, supervising tasks, tapping into retained skills, and acknowledging and interpreting the impact of deficits to patients and families. Many interventions suggested in the literature have not been validated through research. Efforts to do so are complicated by a variety of factors, including the influence of natural or spontaneous recovery rates and the type and extent of injury. Nurses do, however, influence the impact of sensory perceptual deficits. Accounts of the effectiveness or ineffectiveness of specific strategies are conspicuously absent from patient records. The challenge is to better articulate these efforts by consistently documenting interventions and achieved outcomes. In so doing, clinical practice activities become more visible and a foundation for research-based practice will be built.