Effect of a provincial system of stroke care delivery on stroke care and outcomes.

ABSTRACT:

Background

Systems of stroke care delivery have been promoted as a means of improving the quality of stroke care, but little is known about their effectiveness. We assessed the effect of the Ontario Stroke System, a province-wide strategy of regionalized stroke care delivery, on stroke care and outcomes in Ontario, Canada.

Methods

We used population-based provincial administrative databases to identify all emergency department visits and hospital admissions for acute stroke and transient ischemic attack from Jan. 1, 2001, to Dec. 31, 2010. Using piecewise regression analyses, we assessed the effect of the full implementation of the Ontario Stroke System in 2005 on the proportion of patients who received care at stroke centres, and on rates of discharge to long-term care faci

SUBMITTER: Kapral MK 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC3708028 | biostudies-literature | 2013 Jul

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature