Experiences of chain of care and rehabilitation after stroke: a qualitative study of persons discharged to skilled nursing facilities before returning home.

OBJECTIVE: To explore how people with stroke, discharged to skilled nursing facilities before returning home, experience the chain of care and rehabilitation. DESIGN: Qualitative, semi-structured interview design. METHODS: Thirteen stroke survivors discharged from a stroke unit to a skilled nursing facility before returning to independent living participated. Semi-structured telephone interviews were conducted 2-5 months after stroke and analysed with content analysis. RESULTS: The analysis resulted in three categories, Organizational processes, critical and complex, Rehabilitation, the right support at the right time and Adaptation to the changed situation, with a total of 9 subcategories. The informants perceived low participation in planning and goalsetting and limited information. Support from the healthcare services was important to proceed with improvements although the amount of supported training varied. Factors hindering and facilitating managing everyday life were described, as well as lingering uncertainty of what the future would be like. CONCLUSION: Support and rehabilitation as well as individuals' needs varied, throughout the chain of care. To enable participation in the rehabilitation, assistance in setting goals and repeated information is warranted. Tailored care and rehabilitation throughout the chain of care should be provided, followed up at home, and coordinated for smooth transitions between organizations.

Implementation of evidence-based interventions according to the Swedish National Guidelines for Strokecare: a nationwide survey among physiotherapists.

OBJECTIVE: To investigate (i) to what extent physiotherapists (PTs) working in stroke rehabilitation in various parts of the stroke care chain have implemented interventions according to the national guidelines for stroke (NGS), (ii) facilitating and hindering factors for the implementation, and (iii) differences between various care settings. DESIGN: A cross-sectional study. SUBJECTS: 148 PTs working in stroke rehabilitation in various parts of the care chain in Sweden. METHODS: Data were collected by a web-based survey. RESULTS: Task-specific training for walking (80-98%), impaired motor function (64-100%) and fall prevention (73-92%) were most implemented. Factors that facilitated implementation were: important to comply with the NGS, that PTs had confidence to perform the interventions, and that interventions were clearly described. Limited time, lack of resources, no clear goals or routines at the workplace hindered the implementation. Significant differences (p < 0.05) between the settings existed. Municipal and primary care reported most challenges in implementing the NGS and providing evidence-based interventions. CONCLUSION: Most interventions, with high priority according to NGS, are provided by PTs working in stroke rehabilitation, although differences in various parts of the care chain exist. Knowledge, time, education and supportive management are important factors when implementing evidence-based interventions.

[Rehabilitation of stroke in a ¼chain of care« perspective]. / Strokerehabilitering ur ett vårdkedjeperspektiv.

Rehabilitation is a key aspect of the treatment of stroke patients, both acute and in later phases. The patients' needs varies between individuals and over time. Several skills and methods and different professionals working together in teams, as well as coordination along the entire chain of care, are required in order to meet those different needs. Early supported discharge, ESD, is recommended for patients with mild to moderate stroke. Stroke is a chronic disease requiring lifelong structured follow-up focusing not only on medical treatment but also on lifestyle, mental and physical well-being and activity and participation.

Effect of robotic-assisted gait training on objective biomechanical measures of gait in persons post-stroke: a systematic review and meta-analysis.

BACKGROUND: Robotic-Assisted Gait Training (RAGT) may enable high-intensive and task-specific gait training post-stroke. The effect of RAGT on gait movement patterns has however not been comprehensively reviewed. The purpose of this review was to summarize the evidence for potentially superior effects of RAGT on biomechanical measures of gait post-stroke when compared with non-robotic gait training alone. METHODS: Nine databases were searched using database-specific search terms from their inception until January 2021. We included randomized controlled trials investigating the effects of RAGT (e.g., using exoskeletons or end-effectors) on spatiotemporal, kinematic and kinetic parameters among adults suffering from any stage of stroke. Screening, data extraction and judgement of risk of bias (using the Cochrane Risk of bias 2 tool) were performed by 2-3 independent reviewers. The Grading of Recommendations Assessment Development and Evaluation (GRADE) criteria were used to evaluate the certainty of evidence for the biomechanical gait measures of interest. RESULTS: Thirteen studies including a total of 412 individuals (mean age: 52-69 years; 264 males) met eligibility criteria and were included. RAGT was employed either as monotherapy or in combination with other therapies in a subacute or chronic phase post-stroke. The included studies showed a high risk of bias (n = 6), some concerns (n = 6) or a low risk of bias (n = 1). Meta-analyses using a random-effects model for gait speed, cadence, step length (non-affected side) and spatial asymmetry revealed no significant differences between the RAGT and comparator groups, while stride length (mean difference [MD] 2.86 cm), step length (affected side; MD 2.67 cm) and temporal asymmetry calculated in ratio-values (MD 0.09) improved slightly more in the RAGT groups. There were serious weaknesses with almost all GRADE domains (risk of bias, consistency, directness, or precision of the findings) for the included outcome measures (spatiotemporal and kinematic gait parameters). Kinetic parameters were not reported at all. CONCLUSION: There were few relevant studies and the review synthesis revealed a very low certainty in current evidence for employing RAGT to improve gait biomechanics post-stroke. Further high-quality, robust clinical trials on RAGT that complement clinical data with biomechanical data are thus warranted to disentangle the potential effects of such interventions on gait biomechanics post-stroke.

Effect of early supported discharge after stroke on patient reported outcome based on the Swedish Riksstroke registry.

BACKGROUND: The efficacy of early supported discharge (ESD) has not been tested in current stroke care setting, which provide relatively short hospital stays, access to hyper-acute therapies and early carotid stenosis interventions. This study aimed to compare patient-reported outcome measures (PROM) among patients with stroke that received modern stroke unit care with or without ESD. METHODS: Observational study of 30,232 patients with first-ever stroke registered in the Riksstroke registry in Sweden, between 1 January 2010 and 31 December 2013. Patient characteristics were collected from the Riksstroke and Statistics Sweden databases. The primary outcome was satisfaction with the rehabilitation at 3 months after discharge. Secondary outcome were information about stroke provided, tiredness/fatigue, pain, dysthymia/depression, general health status and dependence in activities of daily living (mobility, toileting and dressing) at 3 months after the stroke. We used separate multivariable logistic regression models for each PROM variable to analyze associations between PROMs and ESD/no ESD. RESULTS: The ESD group comprised 1495 participants: the control group comprised 28,737 participants. Multivariable logistic regression models of PROMs showed that, compared to controls, the ESD group was more satisfied with rehabilitation after discharge (OR: 1.78, 95% CI: 1.17-2.49), experienced less dysthymia/depression (OR: 0.68, 95% 0.55-0.84) and showed more independence in mobility (OR: 1.50, 95% CI: 1.17-1.92), toileting (OR: 1.30, 95%CI: 1.05-1.61), and dressing (OR: 1.23, 95%CI: 1.02-1.48). CONCLUSION: In the setting of modern stroke unit care, ESD appeared to have positive effects on stroke rehabilitation, in the subacute phase.

An intelligent rollator for mobility impaired persons, especially stroke patients.

An intelligent rollator (IRO) was developed that aims at obstacle detection and guidance to avoid collisions and accidental falls. The IRO is a retrofit four-wheeled rollator with an embedded computer, two solenoid brakes, rotation sensors on the wheels and IR-distance sensors. The value reported by each distance sensor was compared in the computer to a nominal distance. Deviations indicated a present obstacle and caused activation of one of the brakes in order to influence the direction of motion to avoid the obstacle. The IRO was tested by seven healthy subjects with simulated restricted and blurred sight and five stroke subjects on a standardised indoor track with obstacles. All tested subjects walked faster with intelligence deactivated. Three out of five stroke patients experienced more detected obstacles with intelligence activated. This suggests enhanced safety during walking with IRO. Further studies are required to explore the full value of the IRO.

Reliability and validity of the Swedish Fatigue Assessment Scale when self-administrered by persons with mild to moderate stroke.

OBJECTIVE: To examine internal consistency, test-retest reliability, floor/ceiling effects and construct validity of the Fatigue Assessment Scale (FAS), when self-administrated by persons with mild to moderate stroke. METHOD: The FAS was translated into Swedish and tested for psychometric properties when self-administrated by persons with mild to moderate stroke. Participants, consequently selected from the stroke unit admission register received a letter with three questionnaires: the FAS, Short Form Health Survey (SF-36) subscale for vitality and Geriatric Depression Scale, GDS-15. Within two weeks, a second letter with FAS was sent for re-test. RESULT: Seventy-tree persons with mild to moderate stroke participated in the study. Internal consistency was good (Cronbach's alpha 0.82). The test and retest reliability of individual items showed that five items out of 10 items were good (weighted kappa > 0.60), four were moderate (0.40-0.60), and one was fair (0.22). The relative reliability between total scores was good (ICC 3.1 = 0.73) and the absolute reliability was nine points, meaning that a change of at least nine points in total score implies a real change of fatigue level. Correlation analysis showed that the Swedish FAS correlated with the SF-36 subscale for vitality (rs = - 0.73) and GDS-15 (rs = 0.62), suggesting convergent construct validity. There were no floor or ceiling effects. CONCLUSION: The Swedish translation of the FAS used as a self-administrated questionnaire is reliable and valid for measuring fatigue in persons with mild to moderate stroke.