Clinical audit of nursing care related to tissue plasminogen activator drug injection in patients with cerebral thromboembolic stroke: A quasi-experimental study

The objective of the current study is to ascertain the clinical audit of nursing care about the administration of tissue plasminogen activator (t-PA) drugs in patients diagnosed with cerebral thromboembolic stroke. In this quasi-experimental study, a total of 16 triaged cases of patients with acute cerebral embolic stroke, referred to both the emergency and neurology departments, were examined. These cases were divided into two groups: intervention and control. The method of event sampling and a three-part checklist for t-PA drug injection were employed through a six-stage clinical audit process. In the current investigation, the mean age of the participants in the control group was 57.63 (SD=3.58), while in the intervention group, it was 55.51 (SD=3.58). The adherence to nursing care protocols before the administration of the t-PA drug witnessed a significant enhancement following the execution of the clinical audit cycle (P=0.045). Similarly, the compliance rate of nursing care during the injection of the t-PA drug also saw a significant rise after the implementation of the clinical audit cycle (P=0.02). The nursing performance metrics improved after the clinical audit cycle’s implementation. Specifically, the proportion of nurses exhibiting good performance escalated from 62.5% before the audit cycle to 87.5% after its implementation. However, this difference did not reach statistical significance (P=0.18). Given the substantial impact of the clinical audit process on the quality of delivered services, it appears that this process can contribute to the enhancement of the service level provided by nurses in clinical environments.