Both nursing and physician personnel will need to understand the importance of timing, blood pressure control, and careful neurological and cardiovascular monitoring throughout the therapeutic process. Figures 2 and 3 list suggested pathophysiological and procedural content of educational programs for emergency personnel. Common sense tells us that frequency is an important consideration when planning educational activities in any clinical situation. Staff awareness of clinical procedures, their comfort level with management protocol execution, and overall quality of care improve when they are exposed to a clinical situation more frequently. The practiced response that develops among team members improves as unanticipated glitches are worked out of the system.
Details become incorporated into memory and efficiency improves.
Conversely, uncommonly executed protocols are more sluggishly applied as details need to be reviewed each time. The need for staff refresher courses for skill maintenance increases in low-frequency states. The frequency factor is an important consideration when planning clinical educational activities. Stroke is only one-third as common in our population as acute myocardial infarction. Only a small percentage of the stroke patients will be eligible for thrombolysis treatment but all will benefit from more expeditious treatment.