Effect of comprehensive nursing care strategies on stroke severity and health problems

Stroke is a life changing event that affects not only the person who may be disabled, but their family and caregivers. In developing countries, stroke account for 85.5% of total stroke deaths worldwide and number of disability adjusted life years (DALY) in these countries was approximately seven times more in high income countries.

The aim ofthe study to assess the effectiveness of comprehensive nursing care strategies for stroke patients.

A quasi experimental, pre-test post test control group study design was used to assess the effectiveness of comprehensive Nursing care Strategies for stroke patients, at SKIMS, Kashmir, on 220 stroke patients (110 in experimental and 110 in control group) fulfilling the inclusion criteria by using simple random sampling technique.

The study results revealed that majority ofthe study subjectes were male, Muslims, non-vegetarian & 65–74 years of age. Majority ofthe subjects both in experimental and control group had severe symptoms during acute stage at the time of admission in neurology ward as measured by National Institute of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). Mean iSD of Activity level measured by Barthel Index was 26.65i9.43 in both experimental and control group before intervention. Majority ofthe subjects were with high blood pressure before intervention. There was significant difference in NIHSS score at P value 0.05 in experimental group after implementation of CNCSSP. There was significant difference in systolic and diastolic blood pressure, in cholesterol, triglycerol levels, in experimental group.

Findings of the study revealed significant difference in stroke severity, physiological parameters, biochemical parameters, activity level and prevention of complications in experimental group as compared to control group which shows the effectiveness ofcomprehensive Nursing Care Strategies for stroke patients.