Decision Making in Acute Stroke Care

STROKEAHA: May 29, 2014

Making decisions in medical care is a difficult task, involving a variety of cognitive processes. Decision making is defined as the process of examining possibilities, risks, uncertainties, and options, comparing them, and choosing a course of action.^1,2 Decisions based on erroneous assessments may result in incorrect patient and family expectations, and potentially inappropriate advice, treatment, or discharge planning (eg, longer length of hospitalization, long-term placement, and wasted resources). Rapid and accurate decision making is critical to stroke care, for which several factors have proven effect on outcomes.^3–7 In brief, there are patient-level, hospital-level, and provider-level characteristics that directly affect stroke outcomes (Figure 1). Read more