BACKGROUND: According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, stroke is the second leading cause of death in Australia. The clinical Guidelines for stroke management published by the National Stroke Foundation provide a series of evidence based recommendations to assist clinicians in the management of stroke patients. Appropriate management of patients admitted to stroke units reduces death and disability by 20 %. Moreover, a multidisciplinary team approach also improves patient outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively review the pharmacological management of ischaemic stroke patients in a metropolitan Australian hospital, and to compare adherence with the guidelines for stroke management with the national stroke foundation data with and without pharmacist intervention. METHOD: A retrospective audit of medical records was undertaken of all patients admitted to a large teaching hospital with the diagnosis of stroke or cerebral infarction from January 2013 to May 2013. RESULTS: A total of 124 patients were included in the study. Most patients were discharged on appropriate pharmacological intervention for the prevention of secondary stroke: antihypertensive agents (71 %), lipid lowering agents (67 %) and antithrombotic (85 %) medications. CONCLUSION: The majority of the cohort was discharged on the appropriate evidence based medications for the management of secondary stroke. Further improvement may be achieved by pharmacist intervening as part of a multidisciplinary team.
BACKGROUND: According to the Australian Bureau of Statistics, stroke is the second leading cause of death in Australia. The clinical Guidelines for stroke management published by the National Stroke Foundation provide a series of evidence based recommendations to assist clinicians in the management of strokepatients. Appropriate management of patients admitted to stroke units reduces death and disability by 20 %. Moreover, a multidisciplinary team approach also improves patient outcomes. OBJECTIVE: To retrospectively review the pharmacological management of ischaemic strokepatients in a metropolitan Australian hospital, and to compare adherence with the guidelines for stroke management with the national stroke foundation data with and without pharmacist intervention. METHOD: A retrospective audit of medical records was undertaken of all patients admitted to a large teaching hospital with the diagnosis of stroke or cerebral infarction from January 2013 to May 2013. RESULTS: A total of 124 patients were included in the study. Most patients were discharged on appropriate pharmacological intervention for the prevention of secondary stroke: antihypertensive agents (71 %), lipid lowering agents (67 %) and antithrombotic (85 %) medications. CONCLUSION: The majority of the cohort was discharged on the appropriate evidence based medications for the management of secondary stroke. Further improvement may be achieved by pharmacist intervening as part of a multidisciplinary team.