Why is this research needed?
After a stroke, up to 60% of patients suffer a problem in cognition causing poor memory, language, planning tasks or attention/concentration. Currently, there is little evidence on whether the patient outcome is improved by diagnosis and advice and no standardised care pathway on cognitive deficit following stroke.
The researchers have created a new cognitive screen after stroke which can be used to predict the long-term cognitive problems patients can have and how well they are able to function in everyday life. This will provide a unique ‘cognitive profile’ for patients. But it's not clear how the new screen can be given to stroke patients in the clinic.
What do the researchers hope to do?
In this project, the researchers aim to investigate how cognitive screening can be implemented into the standard clinical treatment of stroke.
They will assess the perceived value of cognitive screening after stroke for clinicians, patients and carers, how best to implement the screen in clinical practice and inform clinical decision making. This will be used to develop a care pathway based on our assessment.
They will also collect pilot data which will inform the design of a clinical trial comparing the efficacy of screening and advising on cognitive problems after stroke.