The management of acute cerebrovascular disorders at the Emergency Services at the Castellon General Hospital

OBJECTIVE: To analyse the policy for hospital admission in the case of the patients who come to the Emergency Ward with acute cerebrovascular disorders. METHOD: The study was based on a retrospective analysis of the release reports from the Emergency Ward of Castellon General Hospital in the course of 1991, in which stroke, or transitory ischemic attack (TIA) were diagnosed. RESULTS: 514 patients were attended to who went to the Emergency Ward because of cerebrovascular disorder. Of these, 57.2% were referred to hospital, with 42% being sent home. It was observed that 10.65% (n = 23) they did not accomplish the criteria for stroke. There was an overwhelming number of cases of TIA diagnosed (50.2%) in patients who were not admitted, contrasting with only 7.5% being selected for admission. We considered possible explanations for this. CONCLUSIONS: We observed that as far as making the decision to admit a patient with acute cerebrovascular disorder, priority for admission was given in those cases which showed the worst neurological deficiencies, and had a worse prognosis as a consequence. Similarly, the older age (average 76.5 years old) was a prominent factor as far as those who were not admitted.