| Abstrakt: |
During the last decades, stroke has been the focus of intense research and the ischaemic one benefited from the implementation of thrombolysis or thrombectomy as treatment options. On the other hand, haemorrhagic stroke continues to lack definitive treatment options, and its toll on the individual and society is still large, despite its rather small frequency (10-20% of all stroke cases). As the onset of this condition is most of the times an abrupt one, the large majority of the haemorrhagic stroke patients are being treated by the emergency services in the (pre)hospital and hospital settings. Apart from the primary evaluation and immediate resuscitation, such patients require specific treatment and nursing prior to their transfer to the neurosurgical department. Within the primary evaluation, efforts are being made towards maintaining the vital signs and making a definitive diagnosis. From this perspective, an ED nurse will be part of monitoring the patient, administering oxygen or assisting airway intubation, establishing an iv line and drawing blood samples, monitoring temperature or urinary output. Once diagnosis is finalised, specific treatment will be started, alongside with continuous monitoring. On a retrospective researched performed on a period of 18 months, 375 of the 77,134 ED patients had an imagistic diagnosis of intracerebral haemorrhage. Ninety-three cases were due to trauma. The total duration of ED admission for the 239 spontaneous intracerebral haemorrhage cases was 47,494 minutes, with a maximum duration of nearly 11,5 hours. On such patients remaining within the ED for longer periods of time, ED nurses will be responsible of specific procedures such as maintaining a suitable body and head position, ensuring personnel hygiene and preventing sore points, along with recording vital signs and administering medication. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR] |
