Wake Forest Baptist Launches New Website to Aid Post-Stroke Recovery

You might want to look this website up since your doctor will know nothing about it. 

Wake Forest Baptist Launches New Website to Aid Post-Stroke Recovery

Written by Bill Fisher

Community and Business

Published: 09 August 2019

Wake Forest Baptist Health launched their COMPASS study website that helps patients, caregivers, and health care providers with post-stroke recovery.
The Comprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services, or COMPASS compares the health status of stroke patients who receive conventional post-hospitalization treatment to that of patients who receive comprehensive care based on a model developed by a team of physicians, nurses, therapists, pharmacists, health system and human services leaders, and patient and caregiver stakeholders. Over 10,000 patients from across North Carolina have been enrolled in the study.
And now, the numerous insights and resources gained during the study by health care providers, stroke survivors and their caregivers are available to anyone online through the COMPASS study website: www.nccompass-study.org.
“There is so much we have learned about stroke after someone is discharged to their community,” said Pamela Duncan, Ph.D., professor of neurology at Wake Forest Baptist Health and Principal Investigator of the study. “We have heard from paramedics, nurse navigators, family medicine providers, stroke patients themselves and others.”
COMPASS Co-Principal Investigator, Wayne D. Rosamond, Ph.D., professor of epidemiology, Gillings School of Global Public Health, The University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill added, “These voices and insights are invaluable when it comes to understanding both the difficulties and barriers faced by these patients as well as the successful care models that improve their outcomes.”
All of this information has been consolidated on the COMPASS website for free, unrestricted use, from advice on how to prevent a stroke to recommendations on how patients can find their way forward to recovery, independence and good health. The website also houses a comprehensive community resource directory built to support patients, caregivers, and health and human services teams. Website visitors will find a library of webinars and training modules related to post-stroke care.
This extensive work is also being incorporated into the Post-Stroke Care Section of the North Carolina Stroke Care Plan, which is under development by the Stroke Advisory Council. The Council includes clinicians, health and human service providers, stroke survivors, caregivers, and other key stakeholders who provide guidance for stroke prevention, acute care and post-acute care.
Sylvia Coleman, director of implementation for the COMPASS study, serves as chair of the Plan Development Team. “Our team is thrilled to share widely, via the website, a composite of lessons learned and recommendations from the COMPASS study work to date. We believe this will be helpful to others going forward.”
This effort is the result of a massive collaboration among stroke researchers, health care providers, nearly half of North Carolina’s hospitals, health and human services teams and local, regional and state level partners including: Area Agencies on Aging; American Heart Association/American Stroke Association; North Carolina Department of Health and Human Services, Division of Public Health, Community and Clinical Connections for Prevention and Health Branch, as well as members of the North Carolina Justus-Warren Heart Disease and Stroke Prevention Task Force and its Stroke Advisory Council; Community Care of North Carolina Pharmacy Network; Area Health Education Centers (AHEC) and home health and outpatient rehabilitation providers.
Funding for the COMPASS study was made possible thanks to a $14 million, five-year award from Patient-Centered Outcomes Research Institute (PCORI) – an independent, non-profit organization authorized by Congress to fund research that provides patients, their caregivers and clinicians with the evidence-based information they need to make better-informed health care decisions. The award was approved in 2015.
For more information about COMPASS, or to get in contact with any of the organizations involved, go to www.nccompass-study.org.

 

Abstract 26: Disparities in Post-Acute Stroke Rehabilitation Services Delivery: Preliminary Findings From the COMprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services (COMPASS) Study

More excuses as to why stroke survivors don't get to 100% recovery. 

Abstract 26: Disparities in Post-Acute Stroke Rehabilitation Services Delivery: Preliminary Findings From the COMprehensive Post-Acute Stroke Services (COMPASS) Study

Kristen N Penland, Cheryl D Bushnell, Amy M Pastva, Matthew A Psioda, Samantha M Levy, Sara B Jones Berkeley, Rica M Abbott, Janet P Bettger, Janet K Freburger, Pamela W Duncan

Stroke. 2018;49:A26

• Article
• Info & Metrics

Abstract

Background: Timely rehabilitation after stroke is essential for optimizing recovery. Patients discharged home can experience unnecessary service delays and gaps in care. Our aim was to examine sociodemographic characteristics associated with receipt of rehabilitation services within 30 days after discharge home in stroke or transient ischemic attack (TIA) patients.

Methods: COMPASS is a cluster-randomized pragmatic trial measuring the effectiveness of the COMPASS model of care vs. usual care on functional status 90 days after stroke or TIA for patients discharged home. We analyzed data from 369 participants who enrolled in the intervention arm of the COMPASS trial, completed the post-acute clinic visit within 14 days, and the 30-day call between July 2016 and May 15, 2017. For those who were referred to rehabilitation services at hospital discharge or at the clinic visit, receipt of home health (HH) and outpatient (OP) rehabilitation services was reported by the participant during the 30-day call. Sociodemographic differences between those who did and did not receive these services were evaluated. We computed adjusted odds ratios with 95% confidence intervals using logistic regression to identify factors associated with receipt of rehabilitation services.

Results: Of the 369 patients, 176 (47.7%) had ascertainment of receipt of services. Of the 115 patients referred to HH, 50 (43.5%) received it, and of 85 patients referred to OP therapy, 29 (34.1%) received it. There were no statistically significant differences in sociodemographic characteristics related to receipt of HH, but non-whites were less likely (3 of 20, or 15%) than whites (25 of 64, 34.9%) to receive OP therapy. After adjustment for NIHSS, ambulatory status at hospital admission, and age, non-white participants had a 78% decreased odds (OR 0.22; 95% CI 0.05, 0.95; p=0.04) of receiving OP therapy.

Conclusion: These findings indicate that a significant gap exists between referral to and receipt of recommended post-acute stroke rehabilitation services. In addition, despite the small sample size, our results suggest that there may be a disparity in receipt of OP therapy for non-white patients relative to white patients.