119 ENHANCING THE QUALITY OF STROKE CARE IN IRELAND - DEVELOPMENT OF AN IRISH NATIONAL STROKE AUDIT

Background

Population ageing, stroke treatment advances, changing models of care, and between-hospital heterogeneity in stroke outcomes demonstrate the necessity of continual audit of stroke care to support quality improvement at local and national levels, and to enhance patient recovery and wellbeing. This project aims to identify the core minimum datasets for acute and non-acute stroke care, and Patient-Reported Outcome Measures (PROMs), for integration in to the newly-developed Irish National Audit of Stroke (INAS), in addition to identifying resourcing needs and implementation procedures.

Methods

In Phase 1, a minimum dataset for acute stroke care was identified based on a scoping review of international practice and available guidelines. Phase 2 (ongoing) involves identifying datasets for non-acute rehabilitative and follow-up care based on a scoping review of international practice, iterative cycles of qualitative stakeholder engagement, and systematic review of PROMs. In Phase 3, a review of resourcing and data collection procedures used in stroke audits internationally will be used to produce an implementation strategy for data collection, contextualised to the Irish healthcare system.

Results

Twenty-one eligible international stroke registries were identified from the scoping review. Within Phase 1, core clinical and thrombectomy items in the Irish registry were benchmarked against internationally-collected items to identify common items and to generate an inventory of items that other registries collect that Ireland does not. Based on consensus agreement on the most frequently-occurring international items, as reviewed by key stakeholders, a core minimum dataset for audit of acute stroke care was delivered.

Conclusion

These minimum datasets shall act as the “gold standard” for evaluating stroke care in Ireland, by not only incorporating structure, process, and care quality outcome indicators, but also PROMs. The resultant datasets may inform policy and quality improvement initiatives, and shape health service delivery across the trajectory of stroke care, from hyper-acute care, to rehabilitation, and return to the community.

Young adults’ preferred options for receiving chlamydia screening test results: a cross-sectional survey of 6085 young adults

Summary

We investigated how young adults aged 18-29 years would like to be notified of chlamydia screening test results, and, when they test positive, their willingness and preferred mechanism for informing their partners. We conducted a cross-sectional survey of 6085 young adults and found that a call to their mobile phone was their preferred way of receiving positive test results (selected by 50%), followed by email. Text messages (short message service [SMS]) and calls to landline phones were unpopular options, selected by between 5 and 10%. Over 75% of respondents stated they would inform their current partner of a positive chlamydia diagnosis, and 50% would inform their previous partners. Most were willing to receive yearly reminders to go for a chlamydia test. Young adults preference for being informed of chlamydia test results by mobile phone call, rather than by email or SMS text, especially if they test positive, suggests they place high value on the security of the communication mechanism. Offering a range of mechanisms for receipt of test results may increase the acceptability and coverage of sexually transmitted infection (STI) control strategies.