Stroke Caregiver Education and Training in an Inpatient Sub-Acute Setting: A Retrospective Clinical Audit.
- 1College of Health and Enablement, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
- 2Department of Physiotherapy, Barwon Health, Geelong, Victoria, Australia.
- 3Caring Futures Institute, College of Health and Enablement, Flinders University, Adelaide, South Australia, Australia.
Abstract
Caregiver burden is a significant issue post-stroke. Caregivers demonstrate unmet needs throughout the rehabilitation phase, with limited literature that delves into the details of caregiver education and training (CGET) provision prior to discharge.Objectives
To identify current practice of multidisciplinary team documentation of CGET following stroke on an inpatient subacute neurosciences ward.Methods
A retrospective clinical audit was conducted on 109 stroke admissions on an inpatient subacute neurosciences ward. Documented demographic information, admission and discharge Functional Independence Measure scores, and CGET from the multidisciplinary team were collected using a purpose-built audit tool. Descriptive analysis and sub-group comparison explored the findings against the Stroke Guideline recommendations.Results
Data from 109 records were included, which identified 1398 episodes of CGET. Social work (SW) (79.9%) and occupational therapy (OT) (77.1%) documented CGET more consistently than other disciplines. CGET was significantly more likely to be documented for patients with cognitive impairment, yet only three of 28 (10.7%) individuals with memory impairment had documented CGET relating to memory strategies. Nursing staff documented minimal CGET across all domains, including management of continence.Conclusions
Inconsistent CGET was documented for stroke recovery relating to activities of daily living, mobility and cognition. Variable documentation practices highlighted challenges with interpretation. Further research is needed to determine whether functional limitations of patients are being matched with the appropriate CGET.Practice implications
multidisciplinary team caregiver education and training provision and documentation needs to be consistent, particularly relating to cognition, continence, mobility and activities of daily living.
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BibTeX
@article{mccarthy2026stroke,
title = {{Stroke Caregiver Education and Training in an Inpatient Sub-Acute Setting: A Retrospective Clinical Audit.}},
author = {Madelaine McCarthy and Nicky Baker and Natasha A Selenitsch and Maayken van den Berg},
journal = {Journal of evaluation in clinical practice},
year = {2026},
month = oct,
doi = {10.1111/jep.70690},
url = {https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42900752},
note = {CC BY},
}
RIS
TY - JOUR
TI - Stroke Caregiver Education and Training in an Inpatient Sub-Acute Setting: A Retrospective Clinical Audit.
AU - Madelaine McCarthy
AU - Nicky Baker
AU - Natasha A Selenitsch
AU - Maayken van den Berg
PY - 2026
DA - 2026/10/01
JO - Journal of evaluation in clinical practice
DO - 10.1111/jep.70690
UR - https://europepmc.org/article/MED/42900752
AB - Caregiver burden is a significant issue post-stroke. Caregivers demonstrate unmet needs throughout the rehabilitation phase, with limited literature that delves into the details of caregiver education and training (CGET) provision prior to discharge.Objectives To identify current practice of multidisciplinary team documentation of CGET following stroke on an inpatient subacute neurosciences ward.Methods A retrospective clinical audit was conducted on 109 stroke admissions on an inpatient subacute neurosciences ward. Documented demographic information, admission and discharge Functional Independence Measure scores, and CGET from the multidisciplinary team were collected using a purpose-built audit tool. Descriptive analysis and sub-group comparison explored the findings against the Stroke Guideline recommendations.Results Data from 109 records were included, which identified 1398 episodes of CGET. Social work (SW) (79.9%) and occupational therapy (OT) (77.1%) documented CGET more consistently than other disciplines. CGET was significantly more likely to be documented for patients with cognitive impairment, yet only three of 28 (10.7%) individuals with memory impairment had documented CGET relating to memory strategies. Nursing staff documented minimal CGET across all domains, including management of continence.Conclusions Inconsistent CGET was documented for stroke recovery relating to activities of daily living, mobility and cognition. Variable documentation practices highlighted challenges with interpretation. Further research is needed to determine whether functional limitations of patients are being matched with the appropriate CGET.Practice implications multidisciplinary team caregiver education and training provision and documentation needs to be consistent, particularly relating to cognition, continence, mobility and activities of daily living.
SN - 1356-1294
SN - 1365-2753
ER -