Portugal has uneven distribution and restrictions in stroke units — DNOTICIAS.PT
Portugal has “a clearly unequal distribution” of Stroke Units (UAVC) and most units “present important constraints in infrastructure and human capital”, indicates a study released today.
The study, “Characterization of Stroke Units in Portugal 2021”, was organized by the Sociedade Portuguesa do Acidente Vascular Cerebral (SPAVC) and aimed at understanding the functioning of the Via Verde de AVC (VVAVC) and the UAVC. In summary, explained today to SPAVC in a statement, the study “demonstrated that the existing referral networks for acute revascularization therapy do not follow a concerted and properly organized national plan” so that there is “a geographically equitable network”.
There is, according to the 135-page study, “a clear unequal distribution of UAVC throughout the Portuguese territory”, being more evident in the southern region. As examples of restrictions, some following restructuring due to the covid-19 pandemic, the study points out that three out of 35 UAVC recognize that they do not have their own equipment for nurses, and five out of 35 do not have dedicated physiotherapists.
Also three in 35 say they do not have speech therapists in the UAVC team. 35 UAVC spaces were identified in all and nine more, on the mainland and islands, which indicates the creation of seven more UAVC 2017. “There are still three of their own in 35 UAVC without geographically delimited. ) automatic detection capability of arrhythmic events — that 17 out of 35 UAVC have central monitoring capability with capability and 16 out of 35 UAVC do not have 3 pneumatic compressors good lower limb events. capability for continuous ECG monitoring”, it says in the study.
The reinforcements of auxiliaries, auxiliaries, auxiliaries and operational assistants one and more assistants were necessary as the main common of the UAVC, according to the document, the need for equipment and exclusive extension to the UAVC, or reinforcement of the reinforcement also of vacancies and equipment . Cited in the communiqué, Miguel Rodrigues and José Mário Roriz, who coordinate the work, say that “the development of UAVC and the implementation of VVAVC had a decisive role in the increase in mortality from stroke in the last decade and in the improvement of care in acute stroke in Portugal”.
But “the operation of the VVAVC and the structure and organization of the UAVC is different at the national level”, with several hospitals to choose from in varied and human models. Also, they say that the UAVC “has not yet been formally recognized even in a national network”, designed as integrated into its organization and functioning. Those responsible for the study recommend, inter alia, that a National Network of Stroke Units is created, which defines each hospital for Acute Stroke and which is intended to study hospitals for financial and human capital projects.
The authors of the study, carried out in collaboration with the Portuguese Society of Physical Medicine and Rehabilitation, note that it was edited after the last census of the Portuguese population, the 2021 Census, which shows an aging population, with about 24% of residents citizens in 2021 to be 65 or over (in 2011 they were 19%). “As age is one of the strongest risk factors for stroke, this increase in the population in this age group increases the difficulty of global stroke care”, they warn, adding that the increase in a positive evolution for stroke acute stroke .
Stroke is the main cause of death and disability in Portugal, and it is estimated that one in every person will suffer a stroke in their lifetime.