Complications in the acute stages of stroke. Nursing's pivotal role.

The body-system alterations that occur in a patient who has suffered a cerebrovascular insult are multiple and often permanent. Even the "uncomplicated" stroke patient presents a challenge for multifaceted nursing care. The patient who develops complications secondary to the event poses even more complex issues for medical and nursing management. The proclivity for complications to evolve varies with age, brain areas involved, whether the event is hemorrhagic or nonhemorrhagic in nature, and the presence of concomitant systemic disease. Today's professional nurse has access to current technology and possesses the assessment skills and knowledge that enable early recognition of signs and symptoms foreboding potentially disastrous complications.