Grant: Project Grant

Stroke is the leading cause of death and adult disability in Canada. Sixty percent of these older adults (> 65 years) will return to their homes after a stroke and will require ongoing rehabilitation. About 92% of older adults have two or more chronic conditions. These patients often require services from a number of providers in a number of settings and are therefore, susceptible to fragmented health care when transitioning from hospital to home. New interventions are needed to improve the quality of care as patients move from hospital to home after a stroke. The proposed research project will examine the impact of a new intervention on patient/caregiver health, patient/caregiver and provider experience and costs, compared to usual health care services. The new intervention will be coordinated by a system navigator and consist of four core components: 1) development of a comprehensive discharge plan, 2) up to 6 home visits (supported by phone calls) by an interprofessional outpatient team, 3) monthly case conferences including the interprofessional care team who will discuss and focus on the patient's goals and care needs, and 4) the care team will actively seek out linkages to other healthcare and community services to optimize the patient's care. This multidisciplinary project will build on our previous study, which provided groundwork for further study of this new intervention.