Frequency of various characteristics within organised (stroke unit) care and conventional care settings. Values are numbers (percentages) of arms of trials with available data
| Characteristics | Organised care | Conventional care | P value* |
|---|---|---|---|
| Disciplines routinely involved in stroke care: | |||
| Medical | 22/22 (100) | 18/18 (100) | NS |
| Nursing | 22/22 (100) | 18/18 (100) | NS |
| Physiotherapy | 22/22 (100) | 18/18 (100) | NS |
| Occupational therapy | 21/22 (95) | 17/18 (94) | NS |
| Speech therapy | 18/19 (81) | 15/18 (83) | NS |
| Social work | 18/19 (81) | 17/18 (94) | NS |
| Coordination of rehabilitation: | |||
| Multidisciplinary team care (weekly meetings) | 19 /19 (100) | 4/19 (21) | <0.0001 |
| Nursing integrated with multidisciplinary team | 19/19 (100) | 4/19 (21) | <0.0001 |
| Carers routinely involved in rehabilitation | 17/19 (89) | 2/19 (11) | <0.0001 |
| Carers routinely attend multidisciplinary team meetings | 6/18 (33) | 0/18 (0) | 0.01 |
| Education and training: | |||
| Routine information provision to carers | 17/19 (89) | 2/19 (11) | <0.0001 |
| Regular staff training | 17 /20 (85) | 1/20 (5) | <0.0001 |
| Specialisation of staff: | |||
| Nursing interest in rehabilitation | 18/19 (95) | 4/21 (21) | <0.0001 |
| Physician interest in stroke | 14/19 (74) | 2/19 (11) | 0.0001 |
| Nursing interest in stroke | 14/19 (74) | 2/19 (11) | 0.0001 |
| Physician interest in rehabilitation | 13/21 (62) | 3/21 (14) | 0.002 |
| Comprehensiveness of rehabilitation input: | |||
| Increased proportion of patients receive physiotherapy or occupational therapy | 9/17 (53) | 0/17 (0) | 0.0005 |
| Earlier onset of physiotherapy or occupational therapy | 7/20 (35) | 0/19 (0) | 0.004 |
| Medical investigation/treatment protocol | 5/19 (26) | 0/20 (0) | 0.02 |
| Intensity of rehabilitation input: | |||
| More intensive physiotherapy or occupational therapy | 8/19 (42) | 2/18 (11) | 0.03 |
| Enhanced nurse:patient ratio | 5/18 (28) | 1/17 (6) | NS |
↵*P values were calculated with Fisher's exact test (NS denotes P>0.05)