Stroke and in-hospital stay related problems faced by attendants in a public sector tertiary care hospital of Peshawar, Pakistan

Abstract

Introduction: Stroke is the third most common cause of death in most western populations after coronary-heart disease and cancer, and is thus the commonest life-threatening neurological disorder; the resulting disability is the most important single cause of severe disability among western people living in their own homes.
Objective: To determine the occurrence of different types of stroke and their complications in a public sector tertiary care hospital, and to document the problems faced by patients’ attendants.
Materials & Methods: A cross-sectional descriptive study was conducted on 100 stroke patients from August to November 2017 at Hayatabad Medical Complex (HMC), Peshawar, irrespective of their age or gender. Structured questionnaires were used to collect data from the patients’ attendants regarding the patient and the attendant. Data were collected through convenience sampling technique and analyzed by SPSS version 20 for descriptive statistics.
Results: Patients of ischemic stroke were 58% in comparison to 42% patients of hemorrhagic stroke. The major complication faced by patients is dysphagia and the least common complication is bed sores. The most common problem faced by attendants is tiredness and sleep problems while the least common is psychological stress.
Conclusion: The prevalence of ischemic and hemorrhagic stroke is 58% and 42% respectively. Dysphagia accounts as the major complication faced by 60 patients in our study. The least common complication faced by patients of stroke in our study are bed sores. This means that active care is being taken of the patients by the hospital staff. Attendants are known to face many problems when it comes to public sector hospitals, in our study two of the most common causes faced by attendants were tiredness and sleep problems, both accounting for 40% of all the problems faced. This could be due to problem with resting facility which accounted for 12% of the problems faced by attendants.