Protocols for ischaemic stroke in Flemish hospitals: correlation between availability and content versus adherence

Area of Science:

• Neurology
• Healthcare Management
• Clinical Practice Guidelines

Background:

• Stroke is a leading global cause of mortality and disability.
• Evidence-based guidelines improve ischemic stroke patient care quality.
• This study assessed stroke protocol availability and adherence in Flemish hospitals.

Purpose of the Study:

• To compare the availability and content of specific stroke management protocols with adherence to key interventions in clinical practice.
• To evaluate the impact of protocol completeness on patient care for ischemic stroke.

Main Methods:

• A systematic quantitative and qualitative approach analyzed protocols from 24 hospitals.
• Five key interventions (FeSS+ protocol) were assessed for protocol content completeness.
• Correlation between protocol content scores and documented patient intervention adherence was examined.

Main Results:

• Mean total protocol content score was 0.40, with significant variation across interventions (0.1 for ADL screening to 0.64 for glycaemia management).
• Protocol content correlated with adherence for glycaemia, depression screening, and ADL screening.
• Overall FeSS+ protocol content showed a significant positive correlation with adherence (r=0.6140, P=.0014).

Conclusions:

• Protocol characteristics for FeSS+ key interventions were variable and limited, particularly for ADL and depression screening.
• A strong relationship exists between protocol content and adherence to interventions.
• Standardizing and documenting these interventions in hospital protocols is crucial for enhancing stroke care.