Fast Facts for Stroke Care Nursing: An Expert Care Guide

"[This] quick reference text to guide nurses is a 'must-have' as this disease tests our health care delivery system... Fast Facts for Stroke Care Nursing, Second Edition provides a succinct yet comprehensive review."

--Linda Littlejohns, MSN, RN, FAAN, SCRN, CNRN

Neuroscience Clinical Nurse Consultant

From the Foreword

The second edition of this practical, pocket-sized reference has been updated to include the groundbreaking changes to stroke care protocols. Stroke is the fifth leading cause of death in the United States today and leading preventable cause of long-term disability. This resource fills in the gaps left in neuroscience content in nursing school and streamlines an often intimidating, but critically important, area of care.

Featuring diagnostic tests, cutting-edge treatments, and standards for best practice, Fast Facts for Stroke Care Nursing, Second Edition distills the lengthy and often complex national stroke care guidelines into a clear, easily digestible format. This guide can be used as a staff education resource or as a concise review for SCRN or SNRN certification exams, as well as a refresher for nurses seeking the essentials of stroke care. Content starts with stroke care improvements, covers moving through acute care to postacute care, and finishes with practical pointers for performance improvement.

New to the Second Edition:

• Updated diagnostics with additional MR, CT, and transcranial Doppler options
• Modified Rankin Scale score
• Expands upon the neurological assessment with tips for completing it
• New acute hemorrhagic stroke intervention and 2015 landmark studies on thrombectomy
• Pipeline device
• New large-vessel occlusion tools, routing plans, and certification programs for prehospital personnel
• Expanded use of telemedicine
• Information for advanced practice providers
• Changes to the prehospital phase, the acute treatment phase, and the population affected by stroke

Key Features:

• Reflects current standards of the American Heart Association, American Stroke Association, and The Joint Commission
• Provides crucial information at a glance about diagnostic tests, state-of-the-art treatments, and best practice standards

Kathy J. Morrison, MSN, RN, CNRN, SCRN, FAHA, is a certified neuroscience nurse, a certified stroke nurse, a Fellow of the American Heart Association, and a recipient of the prestigious Pennsylvania State Nightingale Award for Clinical Nursing Excellence. As the stroke program manager for the Penn State Hershey Medical Center, she oversees all aspects of stroke care, from prehospital through stroke clinic follow-up. She played a pivotal role in Penn State Hershey Medical Center's attainment of The Joint Commission Comprehensive Stroke Center certification and has mentored many stroke program coordinators through the process of attaining Primary and Comprehensive Stroke Center certification. Ms. Morrison serves on The Joint Commission Expert Panel for Stroke Center certification standards.

Ms. Morrison's published works have appeared in nursing journals and neuroscience course curricula. Her book, Fast Facts for Stroke Care Nursing, has been well received in the nursing community, both as a handy guide for stroke care nurses and as a preparation tool for the SCRN(R) certification exam. In addition to speaking nationally on stroke-related topics, she is active in community stroke screenings and awareness lectures and facilitates a regional stroke survivor support group. She established the Stroke Coordinators of Pennsylvania (SCoPA) in 2010--a group of stroke coordinators whose collaborative work has resulted in significant improvements in stroke care and outcomes in community hospitals across central Pennsylvania. She is a Fellow of the American Heart Association, a member of the American Heart Association Professional Education Committee and Hospital Accreditation Science Committee, a member of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses Advocacy Committee, and a board member of the Susquehanna Valley Chapter of the American Association of Neuroscience Nurses.