A stroke care management system prevents outcome differences related to time of stroke unit admission

Evidence supports that admitting patients with stroke during different hospital work periods is related to distinct outcomes. We aimed to analyse outcomes in patients according to the period and time of admission to the stroke unit. Retrospective study. For purposes of data analysis, patients were grouped according to the following time periods: (a) day of the week, (b) period of the year, (c) shift. We analysed demographic characteristics, stroke type and severity, and the percentage undergoing thrombolysis in each group. The measures used to evaluate early outcomes were the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), neurological complications (NC), and in-hospital mortality. Functional outcome at 3 months was determined using the modified Rankin scale. The stroke unit admitted 1250 patients. We found NC to be slightly more frequent for weekend admissions than for weekday admissions, but this trend does not seem to have influenced in-hospital mortality. Regarding functional outcome at 3 months, 67.0% of weekday vs 60.7% of weekend admissions were independent (P=.096), as were 65.5% of patients admitted during the academic months vs 63.5% of those admitted during summer holidays (P=.803). We identified no significant differences in 3-month mortality linked to the day or period of admission; however, for the variable ‘shift’, 13.2% of the patients died during the morning shift, 11.5% during the afternoon shift, and 6.0% during the night shift (P=.017). We identified a trend towards higher rates of thrombolysis administration on weekdays, during the morning shift, and during the academic months. Time of admission to the stroke unit did not affect early outcomes or functional independence at 3 months. Existe evidencia de que el ingreso de pacientes con ictus en diferentes periodos laborales influye en su evolución. Analizamos la evolución de los pacientes con relación al momento del ingreso en una unidad de ictus. Estudio retrospectivo. Se agrupó a los pacientes considerando los siguientes periodos: a) día de la semana, b) periodo del año y c) turno de trabajo. Analizamos características demográficas, tipo y gravedad del ictus y porcentaje de trombólisis. Determinamos la evolución precoz considerando: la National Institute of Heath Stroke Scale (NIHSS), complicaciones neurológicas (CN) y mortalidad hospitalaria, y situación funcional (SF) a 3 meses mediante la escala modificada de Rankin. Se incluyó a 1.250 pacientes. Las CN fueron más frecuentes dur