The World Stroke Academy: A World Stroke Organization global pathway to improve knowledge in stroke care

 You blithering idiots. 'CARE'  is not what survivors want, they want recovery!  WHY THE HELL IS STROKE IN YOUR NAME ANYWAY? You do nothing for stroke survivors. Name one direct thing, I dare you. Your bullet points just prove you are useless to survivors.

The World Stroke Academy: A World Stroke Organization global pathway to improve knowledge in stroke care

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Gustavo Saposnik, Laura Ceci Galanos, Rodrigo Guerrero, ...

First Published March 10, 2022 Review Article Find in PubMed 

https://doi.org/10.1177/17474930221085895

Article information

Abstract

Background

The World Stroke Academy (WSA) (www.world-stroke-academy.org) is the educational platform of the World Stroke Organization (WSO). It facilitates educational activities (e.g. webinars and eLearning modules) and supports the WSO mission by providing high-quality stroke education to healthcare professionals. It provides evidence-based educational materials in a variety of formats to meet the needs of the WSO membership.

Aim

This article introduces the WSA, its core activities, and outlines how to access the many educational resources it offers.

Results

The WSA offers high-quality peer reviewed stroke education material and uses outcome metrics to assess and improve the quality of medical training of healthcare professionals. This article also highlights the importance of identifying knowledge and knowledge-to-action gaps through the creation of special projects and initiatives. It describes three areas in which the WSA has carried out recent educational initiatives, namely: life after stroke, women in stroke, and stroke checklist/pre-printed stroke orders.

Conclusion

WSA material is freely available, and we would encourage the global stroke community to use, and contribute to, its resources.

Keywords

Stroke, cardiovascular, medical education, research, webinars, stroke care, knowledge, stroke education, e-learning, Stroke Academy

Introduction

Each year, there are 12.2 million new strokes worldwide, and 101 million people living with stroke aftermath. One in four people will have a stroke in their lifetime, a number that has increased 50% over the last 17 years.^1,2 The World Stroke Organization (WSO) is the only global body solely focused on stroke. With around 3000 individuals and 105 society members spanning every global region, the WSO represents over 55,000 stroke specialists in clinical, research, and community settings.^2,3 WSO is in official relation with the World Health Organization and has a United Nations Economic and Social Council (UN ECOSOC) consultative status, giving stroke profile and voice in the global health policy arena. The WSO works closely with global and regional policy makers to address key issues in health systems strengthening, prevention strategies and to improve access to healthcare. One of the ways that the WSO disseminates information on advances in stroke research and education and overcomes gaps in stroke care is through the use of the newly formed World Stroke Academy (WSA).

What is the WSA?

The WSA is the educational platform of the WSO.⁴ It facilitates educational activities (e.g. webinars and eLearning modules) and supports the WSO mission by providing high-quality stroke education to healthcare professionals.⁵ It provides educational materials in a variety of formats to meet the needs of the WSO membership, with the support of the WSO Education and Research Committees and the WSO Connector programs. The WSA provides stroke information for healthcare professionals with an aim to alleviate the global burden of stroke through the education of stroke practitioners worldwide. It also supports the coordination of the WSO’s online educational and promotional webinars, as well as various social media activities based on previous need assessment.^6,7

The WSA Editorial team carries multiple responsibilities, from managing editorial decisions and leading strategic directions to effectively increase awareness, disseminate, and enhance the knowledge of stroke around the world in support of the WSO vision.^8–10 The WSA is a team that welcomes new ideas and fosters diversity of opinions to achieve excellence, composed by its Editor in Chief Dr Gustavo Saposnik, Executive Manager Laura Ceci Galanos, Associate Commissioning Editor Dr Anita Arsovska, Social Media Leader Rodrigo Guerrero, Communication Specialist Florencia Casagrande, and Data Science Manager Emili Adhamidhis.

The WSA recently re-launched the newly designed Academy website, with the intention to host all educational materials, reviewed by WSA editors, WSA Leadership Group, WSO Education committee, and other bodies of the WSO. This upgraded platform is more user-friendly, enhancing learner engagement and utilizing advanced e-learning technology: www.world-stroke-academy.org

The WSA vision to support the WSO mandate is based on the following principles:

• Teamwork, diversity, and collaboration.

• Facilitating access to practical and high-quality material relevant to our daily stroke practice.

• Improving communication among WSA, the International Journal of Stroke (IJS), and WSO to increase value for WSO members, colleagues, and the public.

The core educational elements of the Academy are e-learning modules, case studies, podcasts, webinars, webcasts from congresses, and papers of the month and core news (Figure 1), all covering: diagnosis, prevention, innovative therapies, acute treatment, neurorehabilitation, and life after stroke (see Table 1 for strengths and metrics).

Figure 1. WSA web content.

This figure describes all the educational content formats of the World Stroke Academy (links are in Table 2).