[Clinical and nursing epidemiology of patients with ictus]

A descriptive survey on time of presentation, nursing and medical interventions, course of blood pressure and final outcome (in term of disability) of stroke patients was conducted by the nurses of neurological and medical wards of 17 hospitals. Data were collected on 293 stroke patients (63% of all the stroke patients admitted to the wards during the study period). 69% of patients arrived at the Emergency Department within 6 hours from symptoms onset. Main pharmacological treatments were antiplatelet agents and osmotic diuretics, whose efficacy (for the former for the acute phase) is under debate. 37% of plegic patients was never positioned on the affected side; 5 days after the stroke 32.1% patients were incontinent but 53.1% were catherized. By day 5, 49.5% (55) patients were able to swallow both liquids and solid foods but only 31.5% (35) were mouth fed. The mean length of hospital stay was 18.2 days. 16% (43) patients died before discharge. The disability level was measured with the Ranking scale: 45% patients presented a moderate-severe disability. This survey represents the largest descriptive survey on an italian stroke population and the first conducted by nurses.