Stroke education packet : the inpatient environment

Abstract

Stroke is a disease process that affects more than 700,000 people per year. Many of those individuals enter the acute care setting with questions and concerns regarding the causes of stroke and implications of a stroke diagnosis. To answer those questions, national guidelines regarding stroke education have been created to help nurses present information to stroke patients and their families. In one acute care facility, there was a lack of an educational packet for nurses to use to teach this vital information. The purpose of this clinical project was to create an evidence-based stroke education packet for nurses at this facility to use to teach stroke patients and their families. Evidence was compiled from the literature, evidence-based guidelines, and multiple stroke-education packets, brochures, and patient education materials used by nurses at other health care facilities. The packet was created and presented to the institution as a usable tool to facilitate the delivery and documentation of stroke education to patients and their families.