In order to compare quality measures across nations and regions in Western Europe, the collaborators convened to establish agreed-upon metrics. Physician and patient representatives from multiple Western European nations met to establish two tiers of indicators: Tier I – essential, Tier 2 – desirable. The European Stroke Organization endorsed the final measures.
Table 2 summarizes the 30 performance measures of acute stroke care formulated by this group. There are a number of limitations. The measures include basic patient characteristics, but not patients’ basic vascular risk factors, the omission of which limits the ability to make adjusted comparisons across nations. Additionally, while the measures are grossly in concordance with current evidence, they are non-specific. For example, the duration of cardiac arrhythmia detection and the nature of anti-platelet therapy (mono or dual) are not specified. Finally, the outcome measures are rudimentary: 90 day mortality and modified Rankin Scale. These limitations are anticipated given the variability in resources across nations. The authors also admit that the guidelines cannot keep up with research; for example, provision of endovascular therapy is not included in their quality measures.
Given rapidly mounting evidence regarding high-impact stroke treatment and secondary prevention interventions, it is necessary to document acute stroke management quality measures to ultimately facilitate higher levels of evidence-based stroke care. Efforts such as these are important as quality measures may reveal disparities and thereby inform the decisions of policy-makers and funding organizations. Additionally, these quality measures may serve as a model for other nations.
