Needs of caregivers of stroke survivors

Stroke is a medical event that has serious consequences for the survivor, his family, and society. Stroke is the third leading cause of death in the United States, and two-thirds of stroke survivors are permanently disabled with one-half of these survivors considered severely impaired. The economic burden from stroke is estimated to be $30 billion annually in health care costs and lost productivity.This study described the needs of 35 caregivers of stroke survivors within 24 hours of discharge to home from an acute care "safety net" teaching hospital in Indiana and how well those needs were met. Two subscales, (a) the Need for Information and (b) Patient Care Needs, of the Home Caregiver Need Survey were used. The theoretical framework for this study was the Neuman Systems Model.The stroke survivors were over 50 years old (77.1 %), half were African-American and half were Caucasian, and about a quarter were minimally impaired (25.8%) and less than a quarter were very impaired (22.9%) cognitively and/or physically upon discharge to home. Their caregivers were their children (48.6%) or spouses (28.6%), half of whom worked full-time outside the home. Most (85.7%) caregivers were female, in good health, and with no experience (81.8%) in caring for patients at home.School of NursingThesis (M.S.