Vol. 18, No. 26	April 8, 1999

UD nurses develop Stroke Risk Screening instrument

Delaware nurses, including UD nursing faculty and alumni, have developed a Stroke Risk Screening instrument they hope will be used by nurses worldwide to help reduce the risk of stroke (now more commonly referred to as a brain attack).

Those responsible for the tool, developed for nurses by nurses, say they hope to see it widely used to the point where stroke screenings may become as common as blood pressure checks.

The tool was unveiled at the first annual conference of the Delaware Stroke Initiative, held March 20 at the Hotel du Pont in Wilmington.

Because the Stroke Risk Screening tool was developed without copyright for national distribution, professional journals have been eager to publish it. It is scheduled to appear in an upcoming issue of The Nursing Spectrum, the May issue of RN and as a special supplement in Springhouse's publication, Nursing 99.

"Stroke is the third-largest cause of mortality and the number one disabler of adults," said Ellen Barker, neuroscience nurse consultant, who worked with the research arm of the Delaware Nurses Association to develop the tool with Evelyn R. Hayes, UD nursing and president of the Delaware Nurses Association. Barker is a UD alumna and former instructor in UD's Department of Nursing.

Others who worked on the project are Lisa Plowfield, UD nursing, and nurses Lynne Armigre, Edie Logue and Karen Marin. UD students will be using the new screening in their clinical work.

"Stroke is a 'brain attack' that is preventable and treatable, but the public is largely unaware of the warning signs of an impeding stroke," Hayes said. "More importantly, there is a three-hour therapeutic window for treatment with new Tissue Plasminogen Activator (a clot buster), but most stroke patients fail to seek treatment within that time. Of the 750,000 new stroke events each year, only about 3.6 percent of patients receive appropriate treatment, due to the public's limited knowledge and understanding of stroke," she added.

The Stroke Risk Screening tool uses a variety of questions to assess people for the risk of stroke.

It examines patient history to screen high-risk factors for stroke, the history of significant but slightly lower-risk factors and a history of uncommon but important risk factors. At the end, people being screened are identified for stroke risk and given individual recommendations to seek appropriate follow-up care from their health-care providers.

Those being assessed also are taught the warning signs of stroke.

"Almost everyone knows someone who has had a stroke," Barker said. "This gives us the tool to turn death and disability around."

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