The original article can be found in: The Barbados Advocate By Ryan Gilkes
With acute strokes being a major issue facing Barbados and the necessity for very early treatment, work is being done to improve patient care.
In fact, Clinical Director with the Barbados National Registry for Chronic Non-Communicable Diseases (BNR), Professor David Corbin, has revealed that a Stroke Unit is being established at the Queen Elizabeth Hospital (QEH) – a first for the island.
“…We are looking at how to improve the management of the patient once a stroke has occurred and that is why the unit is being developed. Ward C10, which is a medical ward, has actually been converted and is ready to accept beds. Right now it is empty.
“We are going to populate this ward with patients who suffer from strokes only, and we will focus the care of the patient in that ward…We all will be working together to maximise the patient’s rehabilitation potential,” he said.
According to the Corbin, studies have shown that such units have been successful in improving patient outcome, but he has also suggested that new cultures have to be developed in the area of public response and the medical response times to strokes.“You have to start at the patient’s home, where the stroke has to be recognised – the facial droop, drooping arms, slurred speech. The approach these days is very rapid treatment because as each minute passes, thousands of brain cells are dying and therefore the chances of a good recovery and recovery of function is decreasing as time flies by.
“Public response time however makes the difference in terms of treatment. This is a problem that all stroke centres have – the community response. If that is good, then you can reduce mortality. You can reduce morbidity from stroke,” he stressed.
In Barbados, a study conducted by the BNR showed that between 2009 and 2011 there were 1 143 strokes recorded, which equates to approximately 48 strokes per month. Of that number, 56 per cent were women, while 1⁄6 were men under the age of 55.
Corbin noted that efforts are also under way to design what he termed “a treatment pathway”, which would not only identify who the various players were, but also what would be their role in the care of the stroke patient.
“The treatment of stroke is not just limited to one discipline. For example, the ambulance crews need to be on the ball and they need to know that they should check for little things when they get there. Getting the patient to the hospital as quickly as possible is another thing. On arriving there, a brain scan needs to be done within minutes because some strokes are due to haemorrhage. The CT scan is important [and if] it is in use, it would mean that the non-stroke patient would have to be displaced. That is why we are trying to develop [these guidelines]. There needs to be a change of culture in the way we handle cases of acute stroke,” Corbin further emphasised.
