Percentage of Stroke Patients Who Are Discharged From Acute Care Without Rehabilitation Referrals in Place

Identifying Attributes

Care Settings
Rehabilitation Care
Country
Canada
Publishing Organisation
Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada: Canadian Stroke Best Practices
Type of Quality Indicator
Process
IOM Quality Dimension
Efficiency
Domain
Accessibility

Defining Attributes

Definition
Numerator

Stroke patients who are discharged from acute care without rehabilitation referrals in place

Denominator

Stroke patients who are discharged from acute care

Exclusions
Use of Risk Adjustment
No
Risk Adjustments
Stratifications

Collection and Reporting Attributes

Type of Data Collection
Electronic/paper chart records
Data Collection Methods

Some acute care hospitals provide combined acute and rehabilitation stroke units, where patients progress to being ready to start rehabilitation, and may not actually move beds, or change locations. This information could be found in patient records through primary chart audit. Many performance measures require primary chart audit of inpatient rehabilitation records. Quality of documentation (good or poor) by rehabilitation staff will impact validity of these measures. The Canadian Institute for Health Information has a database known as the National Rehabilitation Reporting System. This database includes data on inpatient rehabilitation encounters to designated rehabilitation beds. It is mandated in some provinces to submit data to the National Rehabilitation Reporting System; in other provinces, it is optional. The National Rehabilitation Reporting System (NRS) has information on an estimated 80% of all inpatient rehabilitation encounters in Canada and can distinguish stroke cases from other rehabilitation patients by diagnosis. Duration or intensity of services by rehabilitation professionals requires a chart review or consistent use of reliable workload measurement tools implemented locally or regionally. Workload measurement systems are a key source of data and information on intensity and frequency of services, but these are not consistently or widely implemented in Canada. Use of such systems should be encouraged in addition to the NRS. Registry of the Canadian Stroke Network

Frequency of Data Collection
Frequency of Data Collection in Days
Reporting Methods
Reporting Frequency
Reporting Frequency in Days
Indicator Has Recommended Targets
No

Source and Reference Attributes

Evidence Source

Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada. Delivery of Inpatient Stroke Rehabilitation. In: Rehabilitation and Recovery following Stroke [Internet]. 6th ed. 2019. Accessed May 2023. Available from: www.strokebestpractices.ca/recommendations/stroke-rehabilitation/delivery-of-inpatient-stroke-rehabilitation.

Link to Measurement Tools

Registry of the Canadian Stroke Network (Not available)

Quality Indicator Confirmed to be Part of a Program Used to Monitor Quality and Safety of Care Among Older People at a Population-Level between 2012-2022
No
Assessed by the Australian Consortium for Aged Care Collaborators as Generally Containing Good Properties (Importance and Scientific Acceptability)
No
Australian Consortium for Aged Care Endorsed
No
Identified by PHARMA-Care Project
No
Upload Date
02 December 2025