The ACT-FAST is a large vessel occlusion triage tool used to screen for EVT eligibility.
Best Practice News
The Primary Care and Stroke Prevention Clinic CME held February 5th 2020 was well-received with 55 health care providers attending from across the South East. The post evaluations were positive with some comments indicating that the content was “usable” and “would like to attend more of these events.” Participants learned more about current stroke prevention best practices, stroke prevention in women, new driving guidelines, post stroke fatigue, and stroke prevention medications.
3 Stroke Prevention Provincial Resources were recently developed to help tackle main gaps identified in the Secondary Stroke Prevention Clinic Core Elements self-assessments completed in 2018/19:Stroke Prevention Infographic for Primary Care Providers to provide general information about the Stroke Prevention Clinic and what treatment providers could initiate after imaging has been reviewed.Standardized Secondary Stroke Prevention Clinic Referral Criteria to help improve timely access and establish better linkages with Stroke Prevention Clinics.Stroke Prevention Clinic Patient Summary to su
QHC opened its Integrated Stroke Unit (ISU) for both acute and rehabilitation care a year ago, on Dec 11, 2018. QHC, the designated District Stroke Centre for Quinte, provides inpatient care to stroke patients requiring both acute and rehabilitation services at its Belleville General Hospital site. As such, the hospital had an opportunity to promote a more integrated approach to inpatient stroke care. QHC teams learned from the experiences of other District Stroke Centres such as Peterborough to plan the new unit.
The Canadian Stroke Congress took place in Ottawa in Oct 2019 bringing together leading stroke experts from across Canada and beyond. Teams delivered presentations and posters to share an impressive array of learning from across the continuum of stroke care within Southeastern Ontario. Dr. Ramana Appireddy delivered an oral presentation on the use of E-Visits in the KHSC Stroke Prevention Clinic as recently published in the Journal of Medical Internet Research: “Home Virtual Visits for Outpatient Follow-Up Stroke Care: Cross Sectional Study”.
Work began in the spring to identify core best practice elements and processes that support the stroke patient’s journey with a focus on the transition elements between care settings. The Acute Rehabilitation and Community (ARC) Pathway was developed along with a team self –assessment tool. Each team from acute care to rehabilitation and the community, completed a self-assessment process to review elements that support best practice and facilitate the patient journey.
New evidence (DAWN and DEFUSE 3) indicates that highly selected patients with severe ischemic stroke may benefit from stroke Endovascular Thrombectomy (EVT) between 6-24 hours of clearly defined stroke symptom onset. In response to the extended time window, Emergency Departments and Paramedic Services collaborated with the Stroke Network of Southeastern Ontario to implement the ACT-FAST algorithm. The ACT-FAST is a large vessel occlusion screen for EVT eligibility being used to guide decision making for triaging patients arriving in the Emergency Department.
An Acute Stroke Care Collaborative event on June 26th brought together 24 health care professionals from Stroke Units at Quinte Health Care, Brockville General Hospital, and Kingston Health Sciences Centre. The one-hour event provided an opportunity to receive an update on new stroke best practices, learn about the Integrated Stroke Unit at QHC, and discuss transitions between acute care hospitals. Participants commented on what helped with smooth transitions.
The following are offered free from the Apasia Institute:Introduction to Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia (SCA™) eLearning: A short self-paced online module. It includes practical and video examples of concrete techniques using the evidence-based method called Supported Conversation for Adults with Aphasia (SCATM).
A provincial workgroup of clinical experts was tasked with updating the Stroke Prevention Clinic Model of care in Ontario. The workgroup identified resources including strategies to implement best practice core elements in Secondary Stroke Prevention Clinics and to enhance system-wide performance and outcomes for people with TIA and stroke. The work has been completed and the compilation of resources was released on January 30th.