Date: Thursday 10 December 2009
MEDIA RELEASE
Improving Stroke Management in Australian
Emergency Departments
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) has released a stroke care package designed
to improve care for people presenting to the emergency department with acute stroke and transient
ischaemic attack (TIA).
Stroke is Australia’s second single greatest killer after coronary heart disease and is a leading cause of
disability. There are approximately 60 000 new and recurrent strokes in Australia each year, that’s one stroke
every 10 minutes. This number will increase as the population ages.
According to the National Stroke Foundation (NSF), one in five people having a first-ever stroke die within
one month and one in three die within a year. Effective treatment in the emergency department can reduce
disabilities and improve long term patient outcomes.
Implementation of the stroke care recommendations will result in:
Timely and accurate stroke and TIA assessment;
Timely and appropriate clinical management consistent with national guidelines; and
Increased consistency of care.
The stroke care package, or bundle approach, was selected by a multidisciplinary reference group of
emergency and stroke clinicians. It provides recommendations in a concise and useable format tailored
specifically for use by clinicians in the emergency department setting.
The package comprises a small number of evidence-based interventions, grouped together and applied to
the management of a particular condition. Each element must be undertaken at the same time and in the
same way for all patients, which reduces variability of practice and significantly improves patient
outcomes.
The materials were developed by NHMRC’s National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS) and are based on
the NSF Clinical Guidelines for Acute Stroke Management.
It has been endorsed by the NSF, the Australasian College for Emergency Medicine, the Australian College
of Emergency Nursing, and the College of Emergency Nursing Australasia.
Contact: Julie Stragalinos, NICS, 03 8866 0409 or 0419 638 271 julie.stragalinos@nhmrc.gov.au
Note to editors
The National Health and Medical Research Council (NHMRC) is Australia's peak body for supporting
health and medical research. As part of the NHMRC, the National Institute of Clinical Studies (NICS)
works to improve health care by getting health and medical research into practice. For more information go
NEWS 
