Clustered stroke patients on a general medical unit: what nursing skills and knowledge contribute to optimal patient outcomes?

The purpose of this paper is to explore the nurse's role in caring for adult stroke patients, both ischemic and hemorrhagic, who are clustered on general medical units. There is evidence in the literature that having patients cared for in a dedicated stroke unit improves patient outcomes by decreasing disability and mortality rates for stroke survivors. However having a dedicated stroke unit may not be practical or feasible because of the population distribution, particularly for smaller urban and rural communities. Therefore, training nurses on the general medical units to provide care to clustered stroke patients requires specific skill training. This will decrease hospital stays and improve patient outcomes, as a result of specialized trained health care workers. A review of the literature indicates that there are specific skills and knowledge the nurse requires to perform evidence-based best practice therapy and have optimal patient outcomes when caringfor patients on general medical units.