Caregiver and Rehabilitation Nurse Evaluation of Stroke Preparedness

PURPOSE: To examine the agreement between unpaid caregivers' and rehabilitation nurses' evaluation of caregiver preparedness for discharge following a stroke. DESIGN: Observational design focusing on agreement between dyads. Dyads consisted of one caregiver and one corresponding rehabilitation nurse. METHODS: To assess agreement between dyads, the unpaid caregivers of poststroke patients and the rehabilitation nurses providing direct care to those patients, each independently completed the Preparedness Assessment for the Transition Home after Stroke (PATH-s) within 72 hours before patient discharge from an inpatient rehabilitation facility. Descriptive statistics and paired t tests were used to compare the total PATH-s scores. RESULTS: We analyzed data provided from 20 caregiver-nurse dyads. The mean PATH-s scores were slightly higher for caregivers (M=75.1, SD=11.4) than for nurses (M=73.2, SD=8.1); however, this difference was not statistically significant (t=0.67, P=0.51), and the effect size was small (Cohen d=0.15). CLINICAL RELEVANCE TO THE PRACTICE OF REHABILITATION NURSING: Alignment between caregivers and rehabilitation nurses supports a shared understanding of discharge readiness . CONCLUSION: Overall agreement in perceived preparedness existed between caregivers and rehabilitation nurses regarding the transition home after stroke, suggesting that current discharge education practices may support alignment of expectations, though this finding does not confirm objective caregiver readiness or guarantee an uneventful discharge.