Audit of stroke care at the Institute of Neurology, National Hospital of Sri Lanka, 1994-1997.

OBJECTIVE To audit the process of stroke care. DESIGN Retrospective case record evaluation using an audit package designed by the Royal College of Physicians of London. SETTING Institute of Neurology, National Hospital of Sri Lanka, Colombo. PATIENTS 263 patients with stroke admitted over a period of 3 years. MEASUREMENTS Documentation of 60 audit items related to 13 aspects of stroke care. RESULTS The process of care was considered 'very good' for only 11 (18.3%), and 'good' for only 9 (15%) of the audit items. Care was 'average' for 5 (8.3%), 'poor' for 9 (15%) and 'very poor' for 26 (43.3%) of the items. CONCLUSIONS Stroke care was suboptimal in many aspects. Care related to rehabilitation oriented neurological assessments, initiation of secondary preventive measures, rehabilitation planning and discharge planning were especially deficient. Competing interests: none declared. Some of the data reported in this paper have been presented at the Annual Scientific Sessions of the Sri Lanka Medical Association, 1998.