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BackupV1 > SSNAP > May 2017 > European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) 2017 – A wonderful success for SSNAP!

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European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) 2017 – A wonderful success for SSNAP!

Members of the Sentinel Stroke National Audit Programme (SSNAP) team attended, participated, and presented at the 3rd European Stroke Organisation Conference (ESOC) 16-18 May 2017 in Prague. A host of interesting and often inspiring talks were delivered by delegates across the three days providing both a learning opportunity for us as a team, and an engaged audience to present findings from some of our most recent research too.


We delivered two platform presentations titled “Which Hospital-Level Organisational Factors Contribute to the Variation in Mortality for Stroke Patients?” and “Between Centre Variation in the Diagnosis and Treatment of Stroke Associated Pneumonia” and had ten research posters on display at the conference. Emma Vestesson also won the best poster competition for initial findings on the association between stroke and suicide titled “How Common is Death by Suicide after Stroke?” More details on all of our presentations are below.


SSNAP platform presentations

“Between centre variation in the diagnosis and treatment of stroke associated pneumonia”


SSNAP data was used to describe the variation in the diagnosis of Stroke Associated Pneumonia (SAP) across all hospitals in England and Wales. SAP prevalence was compared across stroke units, and adjusted for case mix factors such as age, pre-stroke atrial fibrillation, and stroke severity. The observed rates of SAP were found to vary much more widely than would be expected based on patients’ risk factors. These findings raised some interesting questions.

• Could these differences in SAP rates reflect differences in care quality of differences in SAP recognition and diagnosis?
 
• Is there major under and over use of antibiotics which could affect patient outcomes?
 
• If there was a standardised diagnostic criterion it would this improve surveillance of SAP and guide antibiotic use for stroke patients?
 
“Which hospital-level organisational factors contribute to the variation in mortality for stroke patients?”

Well organised 
stroke care is associated with better patient outcomes but it is not known which organisational factors are most important. In this presentation we discussed how complex statistical modelling was used to estimate the association of different variables with 30-day mortality in order to estimate the impact of admission to differently organised hospitals. 

Results showed that staffing levels, particularly nursing levels was a key factor in patient outcomes. Hospitals with a higher ratio of swallow trained nurses per 10 acute beds were associated with reduced odds of death. The ratio of nurses on duty at weekends was also associated with lower mortality. These important findings could have a profound impact on how stroke services are structured in the future.

SSNAP Posters

SSNAP presented a number of posters at ESOC 2017 spanning a wide range of interesting topics including the links between suicide and stroke, comparisons of thrombectomy data submitted to SSNAP with recent clinical trial results, and how new media platforms can be used to more effectively disseminate stroke guidelines. All of the SSNAP posters are available via the following link: https://www.strokeaudit.org/Research/Posters/ESOC-2017.aspx 


Thank You!

Without your support and tireless efforts in submitting prospective, continuous data to SSNAP we would not be able to conduct research like this, or showcase such important findings to international audiences. We ensure to include the ‘SSNAP Collaboration’ https://www.strokeaudit.org/Research/SSNAP-Collaboration.aspx  as co-authors on all research and QI projects we pursue as recognition of your important contribution. We hope to continue using the robust SSNAP data available to ask pertinent questions and facilitate improvements in stroke service provision into the future. Your continued support is vital in making this happen.

 

What next? Patient outcomes at 6 months: A call to arms

With over 300,000 stroke patient cases submitted to SSNAP we are in a unique position to use these data for research and QI work. However the picture is not complete. Given the relative lack of data submitted on longer term patient care (6 month assessments), it is not possible measure long term patient outcomes for many stroke patients, which limits the impact of these data.



When completed, 6 month data show whether assessments of patient needs are being carried out. Combining outcomes with case mix data are extremely useful both nationally and locally in measuring the impact of care and in improving services for patients. We urge all providers to make a concerted effort to record 6 month assessments on SSNAP for all of your patients. There is an extensive support area to guide you in entering these data available via the SSNAP website, including user videos.
https://www.strokeaudit.org/Clinical/6-Month-Assessment/Introduction.aspx

Mark Kavanagh, SSNAP Programme Manager
 
Posted by Administrator on 26/05/2017 09:36:50


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