Poster Presentation Australian and New Zealand Stroke Organisation Conference 2026

Empowering consumer and clinician voices to Shape a multimodal inpatient stroke education strategy through CARES (Consumer-informed Approach to Risk reduction Education for Stroke inpatients) quality improvement project. (#147)

sally Ormond 1 , Jodi Rheinberger 1 , Emily Sanderson 1 , Olivia Lamaro 1 , Jaclyn Lewis 2 , Di Marsden 1 , Carlos Garcia‐Esperon 1
  1. HNELHD- John Hunter Hospital, Wallsend, NSW, Australia
  2. Stroke, HNELHD- Armidale Hospital, Armidale, NSW, Australia

Background/aim:
Education for acute stroke inpatients is one of the National stroke clinical standards [1], however locally only 43%[2] and 63%[3] received education. We aimed to identify patient, carer and clinician perspectives to inform improvements in content and delivery of inpatient stroke education.

Methods:
Surveys conducted at one metropolitan and one regional NSW hospital. Stroke/TIA survivors and carers were surveyed three months after discharge regarding education received, unmet information needs and preferred delivery methods. Frontline clinicians also surveyed to identify barriers and strategies to improve education delivery.

Results:
Seventy-two stroke survivors, twenty-eight carers and one hundred and twenty-four clinicians participated in the surveys. Most survivors (85%) and carers (71%) reported receiving education, but gaps remained in topics including fatigue, mood, driving, and discharge. Preferred education methods were discussions with staff, written resources and short videos. Nurses, doctors and allied health clinicians identified time constraints (60%), patient readiness to absorb information (44%) and clinician confidence (37%) as the barriers to education. 

Strategies developed included improved access to written resources, clinician education and stroke education videos. Five educational videos addressing understanding stroke/risk factor management, fatigue, mood, driving and discharge developed for each hospital accessible via QR code enabling patients and families to access information at their convenience, view multiple times supporting understanding and retention of information.

Conclusion:
Consumer and clinician perspectives identified gaps and opportunities to improve inpatient stroke education. These findings informed the development of video resources to enhance the consistency, accessibility and relevancy of stroke education for patients and families.

  1. 1. Australian Commission on Safety and Quality in Health Care. Acute Stroke Clinical Care Standard. Sydney; ACSQHC, 2019.
  2. 2. Stroke Foundation. National Stroke Audit- Acute Services 2023- John Hunter Hospital Report New South Wales. Melbourne: Stroke Foundation; 2023. 3. Stroke Foundation. National Stroke Audit- Acute Services 2021- Armidale Hospital Report New South Wales. Melbourne: Stroke Foundation; 2021.