Stroke best practices during the COVID19 pandemic
Overview
Guidance on Stroke Best Practices during the COVID-19 pandemic
The COVID-19 pandemic has emerged as one of the biggest public health crises of our time. Health systems are responding – and shifting their approaches to stroke care in light of personal precaution, physical isolation and other community measures.
Stroke Best Practice Guidance During the COVID-19 Pandemic (CNSJ) is meant to support evidence-based stroke care in these challenging times. Based on expert opinion and early shared experiences, the Guidance is based on two principles: 1) stroke remains a medical emergency and should be treated as such and 2) stroke care is highly effective.
Ensuring best practice stroke care is essential, otherwise the rate of recurrent stroke and ongoing functional, cognitive and social disabilities will rise and create a new burden on an already over-stressed system. Alternate care models complement existing stroke teams and processes, allowing continued access to stroke care for those who need it throughout and beyond the COVID-19 pandemic.
Highlights and key messages from our Guidance cover all aspects of the continuum: awareness, recognition and response, hyperacute stroke care, inpatient and stroke unit care, stroke rehabilitation, secondary prevention of stroke and tele-stroke.
Eric E. Smith, Anita Mountain, Michael D. Hill, Theodore H. Wein, Dylan Blacquiere, Leanne K. Casaubon, Elizabeth Linkewich, Norine Foley, Gord Gubitz, Anne Simard, M. Patrice, Smith, E., Mountain, A., Hill, M., Wein, T., Blaquiere, D., Casaubon, L., Linkewich, E., Foley, N., Gubitz, G., Simard, A., Lindsay, P. (2020). Canadian Stroke Best Practice Guidance During the COVID[1]19 Pandemic. Canadian Journal of Neurological Sciences / Journal Canadien Des Sciences Neurologiques, 1-11. doi:10.1017/cjn.2020.74