Cerebrovascular accident patients: an interdisciplinary/multidisciplinary audit.

Objectives: To develop appropriate standards to assess the intervention with cerebrovascular accident (CVA) patients by allied health professionals; to establish baseline data with which subsequent information collected could be compared.

Method: Retrospective criteria auditing of hospital files was undertaken to evaluate whether the allied health professionals were meeting the expected clinical standards for patients admitted with a diagnosis of CVA.

Results: Written documentation in hospital files did not meet expected standards in all criteria and varied between professions. The data obtained provided a baseline against which future results could be measured. It was expected that subsequent evaluations would provide improved results. All departments agreed that meeting clinical standards was important and it was agreed to repeat the audit in one year and to include some outcome standards using patients' perceptions of service provision.