Nursing roles in the subacute rehabilitation of patients with stroke

Stroke is the largest cause of adult disability and third largest cause of death in the world, which represents a heavy health burden [1]. Epidemiologic data indicate that there are 5 million people suffering permanent disability from stroke worldwide each year [2,3]. Therefore, post-stroke rehabilitation is critical for stroke survivors’ function recovery and quality of life. In Western countries, subacute post-stroke rehabilitation is provided by multidisciplinary teams (MDTs), which include nurses, physical therapists (PTs), occupational therapists (OTs), and speech therapist (SPTs). In China, MDTs practice in post-stroke rehabilitation has not been extensively adopted yet. Nurses are the largest professional workforce working with stroke survivors in China [4,5]. However, nurses’ roles and functions in post-stroke rehabilitation are not fully identified and understood by patients, their family members, and other healthcare professionals [6,7]. Usually they are unable to identify examples where nurses made a contribution to poststroke rehabilitation [8-11].