To assess if a person has had a stroke ask them to

Stroke rehabilitation is a program of different therapies designed to help you relearn skills lost after a stroke. Depending on the parts of your brain affected by the stroke, rehabilitation can help with movement, speech, strength and daily living skills. Stroke rehabilitation can help you regain independence and improve your quality of life. There’s a wide range of complications from stroke — and how well each person recovers afterward. Researchers have found that people who participate in a focused stroke rehabilitation program perform better than most people who don't have stroke rehabilitation. Therefore, stroke rehabilitation is recommended for all people affected by stroke. There are many approaches to helping people recover from stroke. But overall, rehabilitation is centered around specifically focused and repetitive actions — practicing the same thing over and over again. Your rehabilitation plan will depend on the part of the body or type of ability affected by your stroke. Physical activities might include: • Motor-skill exercises. Exercises can help improve muscle strength and coordination throughout the body. These can include muscles used for balance, walking and even swallowing. • Mobility training. You might learn to use mobility aids, such as a walker, canes, wheelchair or ankle brace. The ankle brace can stabilize and strengthen your ankle to help support your body's weight while you relearn to walk. • Constraint-induced therapy. An unaffected limb is re...

What's Undetermined Asking a stricken victim to stick out his tongue may help diagnose a stroke. Each year an estimated 600,000 Americans experience strokes, which are interruptions of the blood supply to any part of the brain, resulting in damaged brain tissue. Of these victims, 160,000 die, making stroke the third leading cause of death in the U.S. Those persons this dread killer does not immediately send to the grave are often left with lifelong debilitating infirmities of speech, movement, and even thought. A stroke is a serious medical event, both because it can (and does) kill, and because it can inflict long-term harm on those lucky enough to survive it. There are two types of acute stroke: ischemic and hemorrhagic. Ischemic strokes account for 80 percent of all such "brain attacks" and occur when a blood clot lodges in a vessel responsible for supplying blood to the brain, killing off part of that organ. Hemorrhagic strokes occur when a blood vessel in the brain ruptures, resulting in bleeding which causes swelling and hematoma and ultimately impairs brain function. Over the years, e-mail forwards and social media shares have dispensed advice to readers and users about how to identify and respond to a stroke: Examples: [Collected via e-mail, 2004] How to Recognize a Stroke This might be a lifesaver if you can remember the following advice, sent by a nurse, whose husband is a medical doctor. Sometimes symptoms of a stroke are difficult to identify. A stroke victim m...

The patient’s attention span is assessed first; an inattentive patient cannot cooperate fully and hinders testing. Any hint of cognitive decline requires examination of mental status ( see Examination of Mental Status ), which involves testing multiple aspects of cognitive function, such as the following: Loss of orientation to person (ie, not knowing one’s own name) occurs only when obtundation, Delirium Delirium is an acute, transient, usually reversible, fluctuating disturbance in attention, cognition, and consciousness level. Causes include almost any disorder or drug. Diagnosis is clinical... read more , or Dementia Dementia is chronic, global, usually irreversible deterioration of cognition. Diagnosis is clinical; laboratory and imaging tests are usually used to identify treatable causes. Treatment is... read more is severe; when it occurs as an isolated symptom, it suggests malingering. Insight into illness and fund of knowledge in relation to educational level are assessed, as are affect and Overview of Mood Disorders Mood disorders are emotional disturbances consisting of prolonged periods of excessive sadness, excessive joyousness, or both. Mood disorders can occur in children and adolescents (see Depressive... read more . Vocabulary usually correlates with educational level. Spatial perception can be assessed by asking the patient to imitate simple and complex finger constructions and to draw a clock, cube, house, or interlocking pentagons; the effort expended i...

\( \newcommand\) • • • • • • Routine assessment of a patient’s mental status by registered nurses includes evaluating their level of consciousness, as well as their overall appearance, general behavior, affect and mood, general speech, and cognitive performance. [1], [2] See the “ Level of Consciousness Level of consciousnessrefers to a patient’s level of arousal and alertness. [3] Assessing a patient’s orientation to time, place, and person is a quick indicator of cognitive functioning. Level of consciousness is typically evaluated on admission to a facility to establish a patient’s baseline status and then frequently monitored every shift for changes in condition. [4] To assess a patient’s orientation status, ask, “Can you tell me your name? Where are you? What day is it?” If the patient is unable to recall a specific date, it may be helpful to ask them the day of the week, the month, or the season to establish a baseline of their awareness level. A normal level of orientation is typically documented as, “Patient is alert and oriented to person, place, and time,” or by the shortened phrase, “Alert and oriented x 3.” [5] If a patient is confused, an example of documentation is, “Patient is alert and oriented to self, but disoriented to time and place.” There are many screening tools that can be used to further objectively assess a patient’s mental status and cognitive impairment. Common screening tools used frequently by registered nurses to assess mental status include t...

NURSING ASSESSMENT FOR STROKE PATIENTS Stroke is a chronic or acute condition that affects the brain cells and tissues. It can be as a result of a blocked blood vessel that deprives a section of the brain of oxygen or a ruptured vessel that bleeds on brain tissue. In both instances, the condition causes damage to the affected tissue. Death of brain cells occurs within minutes causing irreparable harm. Stroke attack can be mild or acute depending on the severity of the condition. Time is of utmost importance, and the patient should see a medical professional as soon as onset symptoms appear. The longer it takes to reach the hospital, the more pronounced the brain damage. Observation varies from one patient to the other. Stroke patients tend to have lack of coordination of their body parts with an arm or leg slacking or dragging behind. The face too may drop on one side especially when smiling. Some patients may simply have speech repetition. Stroke is an emergency, and prompt treatment is essential, early medical treatment can help minimize brain damage and other various complications. Underlying Factors Some other significant and chronic conditions can also cause stroke. Some are potentially treatable while others can be prevented altogether. Heavy alcohol drinking, obesity, smoking cigarettes, drugs, and substance abuse are manageable lifestyle factors that can increase the chances of stroke. Conditions that exacerbate the risk of stroke include: • High blood pressure • D...

Text Version of the Assessment Stroke Risk Assessment American Stroke Association Directions: • For each risk factor, select the box (higher risk or lower risk) that applies to you. Select only one box per risk factor. • Enter a 1 on the blank line next to each checked box. • Add up your total for each vertical column. Risk Factors* Higher Risk Lower Risk Is your blood pressure greater than 120/80mm/Hg? Yes or unknown No Have you been diagnosed with atrial fibrillation? Yes or unknown No Is your blood sugar greater than 100 mg/dL? Yes or unknown No Is your body mass index greater than 25kg/m2? Yes or unknown No Is your diet high in saturated fat, trans fat, sweetened beverages, salt, excess calories**? Yes or unknown No Is your total blood cholesterol greater than 160mg/dL? Yes or unknown No Have you been diagnosed with diabetes mellitus? Yes or unknown No Do you get less than 150 minutes of moderate to vigorous-intensity activity per week? Yes or unknown No Do you have a personal or family history of stroke, TIA or heart attack? Yes or unknown No Do you use tobacco or vape? Yes or unknown No TOTAL SCORE (add your points for each column) *Some stroke risk factors cannot be changed such as age, family history, race, gender, and prior stroke. **Excess calories means eating more than your body can burn off in a day. Stroke Risk Assessment Results If you scored higher in the “higher risk” column or you are unsure of your risk, ask your health care professional about how you ca...

The NIH stroke scale is an assessment that is performed by medical professionals on patients in order to determine if they had a stroke. For someone who has had some practice, it should take no more than 10 minutes to complete it. For those who haven't done this before, it will take some time to do correctly. There are definitions in (parenthesis) for some of the lesser known terms used. For the results of each section of the test, the corresponding number should be noted. The sum of all 13 numbers determine the final score. Images and lists that are commonly used can be found towards the bottom of the page. 1A: Level of Consciousness This can be determined simply by giving the examination. The investigator must choose a response if a full evaluation is prevented by such obstacles as an endotracheal (ET) tube, language barrier, orotracheal trauma/bandages. A 3 is scored only if they make no movement (other than reflexive and posturing) in response to noxious (very unpleasant) stimulation. 0 Alert, completely responsive. 1 Not alert, arouses to minor stimulation. 2 Not alert, requires repeated stimulation to arouse, or requires strong or 3 Completely unresponsive, or only unintentional reflexes. 1B: Ask Month and Age Ask the patient what the current month is and what their current age is. The answers must be correct. There is no partial credit for being close. Aphasic (loss of ability to understand or express speech) and stuporous (not fully conscious) patients who do not c...

Because massage therapy is classically presented as a healing means that increases blood circulation, considerations need to be thought through when interacting with clients with cardiovascular conditions such as strokes. Stroke Pathology Strokes, also referred to as cerebrovascular accidents (CVA), occur when blood flow within the brain is reduced or completely blocked. This prevents brain tissue from receiving blood that conveys oxygen and nutrients to tissues. Urgent medical care is needed when strokes occur as someone can die within hours to minutes upon onset of the stroke incident. The term Transient Ischemic Attack (TIA) describes a “mini stroke.” These seem less impactful with less damage occurring with the brain. However, the likelihood of a second stroke, most likely more severe, is highly probable. A TIA survivor needs to evaluate lifestyle factors (including daily diet and exercise) to minimize the chances of another stroke incident. There are numerous causes associated with stroke incidents. Obstructions caused by thrombi developing within brain vessels or emboli that travel from a distant site to lodge into brain vessels are referred to as ischemic strokes. Strokes resulting from bleeding within the brain are referred to as Hemorrhagic strokes. If the stroke cause is unknown, it may be termed Cryptogenic. Major risk factors for stroke onset include: sedentary lifestyle, family history of stroke, present cardiovascular disease, clinical hypertension, smoking, ...