A multidisciplinary guideline for the acute phase of stroke: barriers perceived by Dutch neurologists

Healthcare professionals' perceived barriers and facilitators of implementing clinical practice guidelines for stroke rehabilitation: A systematic review

OBJECTIVE

To identify healthcare professionals' perceived barriers and facilitators to clinical practice guideline implementation within stroke rehabilitation.

DATA SOURCES

CINAHL, MEDLINE, EMBASE, AMED, Cochrane library, Academic Search Complete and Scopus. Additional papers were identified through hand searching.

REVIEW METHODS

The review followed the Preferred Reporting Item for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analysis Protocols systematic review approach. Any empirical research that provided qualitative data on healthcare professionals' perceived factors influencing clinical guideline implementation in stroke rehabilitation was included. One reviewer screened all titles and abstract reviews (n = 669). Another two reviewers independently screened 30% of title and abstract reviews, followed by full-text reviews (n = 61). Study quality was assessed using the mixed-method appraisal tool.

RESULTS

Data from 10 qualitative, six quantitative and six mixed-method studies published between 2000 and 2022, involving 1576 participants in total, were analysed and synthesised using modified thematic synthesis approach. The majority of participants were therapists n = 1297 (occupational therapists, physiotherapists, speech and language therapists). Organisational factors (time constraints, resources) alongside healthcare professionals' lack of knowledge and skills were the most cited barriers to guideline implementation. Contradictory attitudes and beliefs towards stroke guidelines applicability to real-life clinical practice and their evidence base were reported. Organisational support in the form of training, local protocols, performance monitoring and leadership were reported as perceived facilitators.

CONCLUSION

Barriers and facilitators are multifactorial and were identified at guideline, individual, team and organisational levels. There is a need to translate perceived barriers and facilitators into implementation interventions especially addressing organisational-level barriers.

Health professionals' views on the barriers and enablers to evidence-based practice for acute stroke care: a systematic review

BACKGROUND

Adoption of contemporary evidence-based guidelines for acute stroke management is often delayed due to a range of key enablers and barriers. Recent reviews on such barriers focus mainly on specific acute stroke therapies or generalised stroke care guidelines. This review examined the overall barriers and enablers, as perceived by health professionals which affect how evidence-based practice guidelines (stroke unit care, thrombolysis administration, aspirin usage and decompressive surgery) for acute stroke care are adopted in hospital settings.

METHODOLOGY

A systematic search of databases was conducted using MEDLINE, Cumulative Index to Nursing and Allied Health Literature (CINAHL), Embase, PsycINFO, Cochrane Library and AMED (Allied and Complementary Medicine Database from 1990 to 2016. The population of interest included health professionals working clinically or in roles responsible for acute stroke care. There were no restrictions to the study designs. A quality appraisal tool for qualitative studies by the Joanna Briggs Institute and another for quantitative studies by the Centre for Evidence-Based Management were used in the present study. A recent checklist to classify barriers and enablers to health professionals' adherence to evidence-based practice was also used.

RESULTS

Ten studies met the inclusion criteria out of a total of 9832 search results. The main barriers or enablers identified included poor organisational or institutional level support, health professionals' limited skills or competence to use a particular therapy, low level of awareness, familiarity or confidence in the effectiveness of a particular evidence-based therapy, limited medical facilities to support evidence uptake, inadequate peer support among health professionals', complex nature of some stroke care therapies or guidelines and patient level barriers.

CONCLUSIONS

Despite considerable evidence supporting various specific therapies for stroke care, uptake of these therapies is compromised by barriers across organisational, patients, guideline interventions and health professionals' domains. As a result, we recommend that future interventions and health policy directions should be informed by these findings in order to optimise uptake of best practice acute stroke care. Further studies from low- to middle-income countries are needed to understand the barriers and enablers in such settings.

TRIAL REGISTRATION

The review protocol was registered in the international prospective register of systematic reviews, PROSPERO 2015 (Registration Number: CRD42015023481 ).

Barriers to evidence-based acute stroke care in Ghana: a qualitative study on the perspectives of stroke care professionals

OBJECTIVE

Despite major advances in research on acute stroke care interventions, relatively few stroke patients benefit from evidence-based care due to multiple barriers. Yet current evidence of such barriers is predominantly from high-income countries. This study seeks to understand stroke care professionals' views on the barriers which hinder the provision of optimal acute stroke care in Ghanaian hospital settings.

DESIGN

A qualitative approach using semistructured interviews. Both thematic and grounded theory approaches were used to analyse and interpret the data through a synthesis of preidentified and emergent themes.

SETTING

A multisite study, conducted in six major referral acute hospital settings (three teaching and three non-teaching regional hospitals) in Ghana.

PARTICIPANTS

A total of 40 participants comprising neurologists, emergency physician specialists, non-specialist medical doctors, nurses, physiotherapists, clinical psychologists and a dietitian.

RESULTS

Four key barriers and 12 subthemes of barriers were identified. These include barriers at the patient (financial constraints, delays, sociocultural or religious practices, discharge against medical advice, denial of stroke), health system (inadequate medical facilities, lack of stroke care protocol, limited staff numbers, inadequate staff development opportunities), health professionals (poor collaboration, limited knowledge of stroke care interventions) and broader national health policy (lack of political will) levels. Perceived barriers varied across health professional disciplines and hospitals.

CONCLUSION

Barriers from low/middle-income countries differ substantially from those in high-income countries. For evidence-based acute stroke care in low/middle-income countries such as Ghana, health policy-makers and hospital managers need to consider the contrasts and uniqueness in these barriers in designing quality improvement interventions to optimise patient outcomes.

Identifying the barriers and enablers for a triage, treatment, and transfer clinical intervention to manage acute stroke patients in the emergency department: a systematic review using the theoretical domains framework (TDF)

Background

Clinical guidelines recommend that assessment and management of patients with stroke commences early including in emergency departments (ED). To inform the development of an implementation intervention targeted in ED, we conducted a systematic review of qualitative and quantitative studies to identify relevant barriers and enablers to six key clinical behaviours in acute stroke care: appropriate triage, thrombolysis administration, monitoring and management of temperature, blood glucose levels, and of swallowing difficulties and transfer of stroke patients in ED.

Methods

Studies of any design, conducted in ED, where barriers or enablers based on primary data were identified for one or more of these six clinical behaviours. Major biomedical databases (CINAHL, OVID SP EMBASE, OVID SP MEDLINE) were searched using comprehensive search strategies. The barriers and enablers were categorised using the theoretical domains framework (TDF). The behaviour change technique (BCT) that best aligned to the strategy each enabler represented was selected for each of the reported enablers using a standard taxonomy.

Results

Five qualitative studies and four surveys out of the 44 studies identified met the selection criteria. The majority of barriers reported corresponded with the TDF domains of “environmental, context and resources” (such as stressful working conditions or lack of resources) and “knowledge” (such as lack of guideline awareness or familiarity). The majority of enablers corresponded with the domains of “knowledge” (such as education for physicians on the calculated risk of haemorrhage following intravenous thrombolysis [tPA]) and “skills” (such as providing opportunity to treat stroke cases of varying complexity). The total number of BCTs assigned was 18. The BCTs most frequently assigned to the reported enablers were “focus on past success” and “information about health consequences.”

Conclusions

Barriers and enablers for the delivery of key evidence-based protocols in an emergency setting have been identified and interpreted within a relevant theoretical framework. This new knowledge has since been used to select specific BCTs to implement evidence-based care in an ED setting. It is recommended that findings from similar future reviews adopt a similar theoretical approach. In particular, the use of existing matrices to assist the selection of relevant BCTs.

What influences the implementation of the New Zealand stroke guidelines for physiotherapists and occupational therapists?

Purpose To explore perceived barriers and facilitators to the use of the New Zealand (NZ) stroke guidelines by occupational therapists and physiotherapists. Methods A qualitative descriptive methodology was used. Eligible physiotherapists and occupational therapists (NZ registered, working in one of two hospitals, treating at least 10 patients with stroke in the previous year) were invited to participate in semi-structured interviews to elicit their perceptions of the utility and feasibility of the NZ stroke guidelines and identify barriers and facilitators to their implementation. All interviews were audio-recorded and transcribed. Conventional content analysis with constant comparative methods was used for coding and analysis. Results The main themes influencing guideline implementation were resources and characteristics of the guidelines, the organization, the patient and family and the therapist. Insufficient resources were a major barrier that crossed many of the themes. Participants suggested a range of strategies relating to the organization to improve therapists' alignment to the guidelines. Conclusion Alignment to the guidelines in NZ is influenced both positively and negatively by a range of interacting factors, consistent with other studies. Alignment might be improved by the introduction of some relatively simple strategies, such as ring-fencing time for access to resources and training in the use of the guidelines. Many of the barriers and related interventions are likely to be more complex. Implications for rehabilitation Alignment with stroke guidelines has been shown to improve patient outcomes. Therapist alignment with the implementation of the New Zealand stroke guidelines is influenced by guideline characteristics, organizational characteristics, resources, patient and family characteristics and therapist characteristics. Frequently encountered barriers related to limited resources, particularly time. Ring-fencing regular time for access to resources and training in the use of guidelines are examples of simple strategies that may reduce barriers.

Who does it first? The uptake of medical innovations in the performance of thrombolysis on ischemic stroke patients in Germany: a study based on hospital quality data

Background

Since 2000, systemic thrombolysis has been the only approved curative and causal treatment for acute ischemic stroke. In 2009, the guidelines of the German Society for Neurology were updated and the therapeutic window for performing thrombolysis was extended. The implementation of new therapies is influenced by many factors. We analyzed the factors at the organizational level that influence the implementation of thrombolysis in stroke patients.

Methods

The data published by the majority of German hospitals in their structured quality reports was assessed. We calculated a regression model in order to measure the influence of hospital/department-level characteristics (e.g., teaching status, ownership, location, and number of hospital beds) on the implementation of thrombolysis in 2006 (this is the earliest point in time that can be analyzed on this data basis). In order to measure the effect of the guideline update in 2009 on the thrombolysis rate (TR) change between 2008 and 2010, we performed a Wilcoxon signed-rank test and utilized a regression model.

Results

In 2006, 61.5% of a total of 286 neurology departments performed systemic thrombolysis to treat ischemic strokes. The influencing factors for the use of systemic thrombolysis in 2006 were the existence of a stroke unit (+) and a hospital size of between 500 and 1,000 beds (−). A significant increase of the mean departmental TR (thrombolysis rate) from 6.7% to 9.2% between 2008 and 2010 was observed after the guideline update in 2009. For the departments performing thrombolysis in 2008 and 2010, our analysis could not show any additional influencing factors on a structural level that would explain the TR rise during the period 2008–2010.

Conclusions

Because ischemic stroke patients benefit from systemic thrombolysis, it is necessary to examine possible barriers at the organizational level that hinder the implementation. Our data shows that, organizational factors have an influence on the implementation of thrombolysis. However, the recent guideline update resulted in a TR rise that occurred at all hospitals, regardless of the measured structural conditions, as our analysis could not identify any structural factors that might have influenced the TR after the guideline update.

Implementing thrombolytic guidelines in stroke care: perceived facilitators and barriers

We performed a qualitative study to identify facilitators of and barriers to the implementation of national guidelines on thrombolytic therapy for acute ischemic stroke. We interviewed physicians and nurses at nine Swedish hospitals using 16 explorative, semistructured interviews, and selected hospitals based on their implementation rate of new stroke care methods according to data from the Swedish Stroke Register, Riks-Stroke. Through content analysis, we identified facilitators and barriers to implementation, which we classified into three categories: (a) individuals, (b) social interactions and context, and (c) organizational and resource issues. Insights obtained from this study can be used to identify target areas for improving the implementation of thrombolytic therapy and other new methods in stroke care.

Does the clinical practice guideline on Parkinson's disease change health outcomes? A cluster randomized controlled trial

The successful transfer of clinical practice guidelines (CPGs) into patient care depends on the appropriateness of the implementation method. This study strived for a better understanding of which intervention strategy is effective in implementing the CPG on Parkinson's disease (CPG-PD). In a cluster randomized controlled trial, we compared the impact of two different implementation strategies of the CPG-PD on health outcomes of PD patients. The primary outcome of health-related quality of life was measured by PDQ-39. The neurologists of the intervention group (IG) versus a control group (CG) received the CPG-PD with special instructions, a 4-h training and were offered personal feedback. Patients were followed over three assessment times: baseline, post-test (6 months) and follow-up (9 months). Lack of time and remuneration resulted in low study participation (32 out of 619 contacted neurologists). Multilevel modelling revealed that primary (PDQ-39) and secondary efficacy variables (EQ-5D, CGI, HADS-D, ZUF-8) of 386 patients were not affected significantly by the intervention and failed to show any significant difference between the two groups. The EQ-5D VAS scale (p = 0.0288) and the CGI-P severity scale (p = 0.0072) showed a significant worsening over time. A significant decrease of hours of dyskinesias in the IG (p = 0.007) was observed, whereas Parkinson symptoms did not change significantly between the groups. Lacking awareness of the CPG-PD seems to be no longer a barrier for its use, but it is still a major challenge to find effective implementation methods to optimise clinical outcome. Further studies are needed for a more comprehensive understanding of successful implementation strategies.

[The guideline Oral Health Care for dependent residents in long term care facilities, 2007: dire necessity!]

The oral health status of residents in Dutch nursing homes is rather poor, especially of those depending on caregivers for their oral health care. Moreover, when care dependency is rising, the provision of good oral health care becomes more difficult. With more elderly people still having (parts of) their natural teeth, the need for good oral health care is increasing even more. Therefore a specific guideline was developed. The ultimate aim of the guideline "Oral health care for dependent residents in long term care facilities" is to improve the oral health of nursing home residents. Oral health care needs to be incorporated in daily nursing home care routine and in the integral care plan of every resident. Attention is given to the importance of an adequate implementation of this guideline as well as to the necessity of research evaluating the effects of it's implementation.