The Stroke 8

Checklists and disease-specific order sets are increasingly being used in health care to reduce medical errors and improve the quality of patient care. Stroke, which has standardized and well-defined care processes, is an idea/ideal condition for the use of checklists. We describe the Stroke 8 checklist, designed to be part of the daily assessment of patients hospitalized with acute stroke. It consists of 8 items classified into 3 categories as follows: (1) stroke prevention: antithrombotic use, statin use, glucose control, blood pressure control; (2) prevention of complications: deep venous thrombosis prophylaxis, temperature control; and (3) recovery and disposition: fluids and nutrition, mobility and therapy. The Stroke 8 checklist has been implemented in 3 formats over an 8-year period: laminated cards, an electronic documentation template, and an electronic template supplemented with clinical data autopopulated from the electronic health record. We have found the Stroke 8 to be a valuable tool in the daily inpatient management of patients with acute stroke.