A multidisciplinary stroke clinic for outpatient care of veterans with cerebrovascular disease

Abstract

Arlene A Schmid1,2,3,4, John R Kapoor5, Edward J Miech1, Deborah Kuehn6, Mary I Dallas7, Robert D Kerns8, Albert C Lo9,10, John Concato11,12, Michael S Phipps13,14,15, Cody D Couch13, Eileen Moran13, Linda S Williams1,2,3,16, Layne A Goble17,18, Dawn M Bravata1,2,3,191Department of Veteran Affairs (VA) Health Services Research & Development (HSR&D) Center of Excellence on Implementing Evidence-Based Practice (CIEBP), 2VA HSR&D Stroke Quality Enhancement Research Initiative (QUERI) Program, Richard L Roudebush VA Medical Center, Indianapolis, IN, USA; 3Regenstrief Institute, Indianapolis, IN, USA; 4Department of Occupational Therapy, Indiana University, IN, USA; 5Department of Medicine, University of Chicago Pritzker School of Medicine, Chicago, IL, USA; 6Nursing Service, 7Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation Service, 8Psychology Service, Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA; 9Departments of Neurology, Community Health, and Engineering at Brown University, Providence, RI, USA; 10Providence Veterans Administration Medical Center, Providence, RI, USA; 11Clinical Epidemiology Research Center (CERC), Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA; 12Department of Internal Medicine, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; 13Department of Veterans Affairs Connecticut Healthcare System, West Haven, CT, USA; 14Robert Wood Johnson Clinical Scholars Program, 15Department of Neurology, Yale University School of Medicine, New Haven, CT, USA; 16Department of Neurology, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USA; 17Department of Anesthesia and Perioperative Medicine, Medical University of South Carolina, Charleston, SC, USA; 18Veterans Administration Medical Center, Charleston, SC, USA; 19Department of Internal Medicine, Indiana University School of Medicine, Indianapolis, IN, USABackground: Managing cerebrovascular risk factors is complex and difficult. The objective of this program evaluation was to assess the effectiveness of an outpatient Multidisciplinary Stroke Clinic model for the clinical management of veterans with cerebrovascular disease or cerebrovascular risk factors.Methods: The Multidisciplinary Stroke Clinic provided care to veterans with cerebrovascular disease during a one-half day clinic visit with interdisciplinary evaluations and feedback from nursing, health psychology, rehabilitation medicine, internal medicine, and neurology. We conducted a program evaluation of the clinic by assessing clinical care outcomes, patient satisfaction, provider satisfaction, and costs.Results: We evaluated the care and outcomes of the first consecutive 162 patients who were cared for in the clinic. Patients had as many as six clinic visits. Systolic and diastolic blood pressure decreased: 137.2 ± 22.0 mm Hg versus 128.6 ± 19.8 mm Hg, P = 0.007 and 77.9 ± 14.8 mm Hg versus 72.0 ± 10.2 mm Hg, P = 0.004, respectively as did low-density lipoprotein (LDL)-cholesterol (101.9 ± 23.1 mg/dL versus 80.6 ± 25.0 mg/dL, P = 0.001). All patients had at least one major change recommended in their care management. Both patients and providers reported high satisfaction levels with the clinic. Veterans with stroke who were cared for in the clinic had similar or lower costs than veterans with stroke who were cared for elsewhere.Conclusion: A Multidisciplinary Stroke Clinic model provides incremental improvement in quality of care for complex patients with cerebrovascular disease at costs that are comparable to usual post-stroke care.Keywords: clinical management of stroke, cost, blood pressure management, clinical outcome