Establishing Quality Indicators and Implementation Priorities for Post-Stroke Aphasia Services Through End-User...

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Speech-Language Pathology
• Healthcare Quality Improvement

Background:

• No established quality standards exist for post-stroke aphasia services.
• Current care may not align with best practices or patient expectations.
• This research addresses the need for defined quality measures in aphasia rehabilitation.

Purpose of the Study:

• To identify and prioritize best practice recommendations for post-stroke aphasia care.
• To develop quality indicators for assessing aphasia services.
• To establish implementation priorities for improving care.

Main Methods:

• A three-phase research approach involving e-Delphi exercises and consensus meetings.
• Inclusion of people with lived experience of aphasia and health professionals throughout the process.
• Utilized graph theory-based voting for ranking and prioritization of recommendations.

Main Results:

• Identified 10 key recommendations from 23 initial best practice statements.
• Developed 11 consensus-based quality indicators across assessment, information, training, goal setting, and treatment.
• Established three implementation priorities: aphasia assessment, information provision, and therapy.

Conclusions:

• The developed quality indicators and implementation priorities represent a foundational step towards systematic quality improvement in post-stroke aphasia services.
• These tools will facilitate person-centered measurement and enhance care delivery.
• Integration into routine data collection and strategic development will address identified priorities.