Finding Positivity Through Adversity in Poststroke Care: Harmony Sierens, MD

 I'm not wasting 4 minutes when this is about acceptance!

The first line of stroke treatment seems to always be "Acceptance" which is fucking bullshit!

Send me hate mail on this: oc1dean@gmail.com. Especially you:Harmony Sierens, MD, I'll print your complete statement with your name and my response in my blog. Or are you afraid to engage with my stroke-addled mind? I need an explanation of why you are putting out acceptance as your first line instead of recovery?

Finding Positivity Through Adversity in Poststroke Care: Harmony Sierens, MD

The medical director of the Inpatient Rehabilitation Unit at Ascension Genesys Hospital discussed the importance of early intervention, sustained care, and rehabilitation in managing poststroke patients. [WATCH TIME: 4 minutes]

Current Time 1:05

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Duration 4:35

 

"Stroke is common, many people are living with poststroke and have different levels of deficits. I think in stroke, we know early intervention is important, and there's a lot of information out there. There are all these mnemonics that help remember, ‘this could be a stroke, get emergency care, get to the hospital, there's intervention’ and that's wonderful. But I think we don't do a good job of talking about the management(NO, SURVIVORS WANT RECOVERY! DO YOU NOT UNDERSTAND?), poststroke, and how it changes lives and how it changes everybody's life that is involved with a person who's had a stroke.”

Stroke, a widespread disease, greatly impacts the quality of life of an individual, mostly through disability and physical changes, which can bring about different psychological and cognitive processes.¹ Although stroke mortality has declined, research shows that the annual incidence of stroke in the general population is increasing.² As more patients are living poststroke, practicing clinicians practice have the ability to optimize treatment management for their patients to improve outcomes and reduce the risk of other complications of the disease.

According to a review published in the Singapore Medical Journal, researchers recommend that clinicians institute secondary prevention and attention to bowel and bladder problems to reduce medical complications and readmissions.² The researchers also suggested that adequate analgesia, positioning/splinting of limbs, and physiotherapy can also reduce any discomfort and preventable pain in patients.² Stroke clinicians can help patients treat poststroke moods with psychological counseling and can provide additional support for patients by helping them have a more positive outlook on life.

In a recent conversation with NeurologyLive®, Harmony Sierens, MD, a physiatrist and medical director at Ascension Genesys Inpatient Rehab Unit, discussed how society can better address the long-term management and care needs of patients living poststroke(WRONG, WRONG, WRONG!You need to create protocols for 100% recovery. Survivors don't want 'care' and 'management'. They want to get back to their old life! You haven't even defined the problem you need to solve correctly! Talk to me, I can help with that.) She talked about the role that physiatrists play in optimizing rehabilitation for these patients, and how early intervention gaps can be closed. In addition, Sierens spoke about how clinicians can shift the narrative surrounding strokes, from being solely devastating events to opportunities for positive life changes for patients.(So acceptance? I'd scream my head off at any stroke medical person who gives me this crapola!)