Stroke and TIA assessment training: a new simulation-based approach to teaching acute stroke assessment.

INTRODUCTION: Patient simulators provide an opportunity for teams to rehearse scenarios where a rapid coordinated response is essential for improving the clinical outcome. Treatment of acute ischemic stroke is time dependent and intravenous thrombolysis must be administered within hours of symptom onset. This requires a complicated assessment process often led in its initial stages by emergency department staff. We describe a new single-day training event that uses simulated scenarios to demonstrate stroke recognition and an intravenous thrombolysis protocol.
METHODS: Stroke and TIA Assessment Training (STAT) uses video and audio clips from real patients in conjunction with a patient simulator to create interactive scenarios for emergency department staff.
RESULTS: Between May 2009 and April 2011, 779 clinical staff in the United Kingdom attended a STAT course. Data from the first year of STAT showed that learner self-confidence for stroke assessment increased significantly. The use of the simulator was highly valued.
CONCLUSIONS: A patient simulator can be successfully combined with patient video material to demonstrate neurologic features in the context of acute stroke assessment.