Published 24 July 2008, doi:10.1136/bmj.a786
Cite this as: BMJ 2008;337:a786

Practice

Guidelines

Diagnosis and initial management of acute stroke and transient ischaemic attack: summary of NICE guidance

Sharon Swain, health services research fellow in guideline development1, Claire Turner, senior project manager in guideline development for the development group1, Pippa Tyrrell, senior lecturer, honorary consultant in stroke medicine2,3, Anthony Rudd, consultant stroke physician 4, on behalf of the Guideline Development Group

1 National Collaborating Centre for Chronic Conditions, Royal College of Physicians of London NW1 4LE , 2 Stroke Medicine, University of Manchester, Manchester, 3 Salford Royal NHS Foundation Trust, Salford M6 8HD , 4 St Thomas’s Hospital, London SE1 7EH

Correspondence to: S Swain Sharon.Swain@rcplondon.ac.uk

The first 150 words of the full text of this article appear below.

In England, stroke is estimated to cost the economy about £7bn ({euro}8.8bn; $13.9bn) a year. This total comprises direct costs to the National Health Service of about £2.8bn, cost of informal care of £2.4bn, and cost because of lost productivity and disability of £1.8bn.1 In the United Kingdom, the national sentinel stroke audits2 3 have shown that over the past 10 years increasing numbers of patients are being treated in stroke units, evidence based practice is increasing, and reductions in mortality and length of hospital stay have decreased. One of the main aims of the guidance issued by the National Institute for Health and Clinical Excellence (NICE) is to ensure that the specialist treatment and expertise recommended are available to all patients in England and Wales. This article summarises key recommendations in the NICE guideline for the diagnosis and initial management of acute stroke and transient ischaemic attack.4

NICE recommendations . . . [Full text of this article]


Add to CiteULike CiteULike   Add to Complore Complore   Add to Connotea Connotea   Add to Del.icio.us Del.icio.us   Add to Digg Digg   Add to Reddit Reddit   Add to StumbleUpon StumbleUpon   Add to Technorati Technorati    What's this?

Relevant Articles

Are NICE stroke guidelines scientific or political?
Nigel Dudley
BMJ 2008 337: a1339. [Extract] [Full Text]

Commentary: Controversies in NICE guidance on acute stroke and transient ischaemic attack
Helen Rodgers and Mark Sudlow
BMJ 2008 337: a833. [Extract] [Full Text]

This article has been cited by other articles:

  • Dudley, N. (2008). Are NICE stroke guidelines scientific or political?. BMJ 337: a1339-a1339 [Full text]  

Rapid Responses:

Read all Rapid Responses

NICE guidelines, the National Stroke Strategy and ABCD2 score
Dr Daniel Robert Harman, et al.
bmj.com, 30 Jul 2008 [Full text]
Initial management of acute stroke: rehabilitation starts on day one
Andrew O. Frank
bmj.com, 4 Aug 2008 [Full text]
Are NICE Stroke Guidelines scientific or political?
David Barer
bmj.com, 7 Aug 2008 [Full text]
Re: Are NICE Stroke Guidelines scientific or political?
Nigel Dudley
bmj.com, 11 Aug 2008 [Full text]
Define a Stroke Unit
Howard B Abrams
bmj.com, 23 Aug 2008 [Full text]
Lack of good evidence in NICE Guidelines for Acute Stroke
Joseph Kwan
bmj.com, 19 Sep 2008 [Full text]
Re: Lack of good evidence in NICE Guidelines for Acute Stroke
Raymond G Holder
bmj.com, 21 Sep 2008 [Full text]



Access jobs at BMJ Careers
Whats new online at Student 

BMJ