Organization and Provision of Rehabilitation Services for Stroke Patients and Their Families: A Review of the Evidence

Stroke is one of the leading causes of disability in adults. In Québec, the Ministère de la Santé et des Services sociaux decided to review all the care and services devoted to this illness, in order to improve the continuity and quality of and access to services. As part of this process, INESSS was involved in the work of the Comité aviseur ministériel sur l'AVC and published, in 2011, a report on the organization of stroke services.

Rehabilitation is an important part of the stroke service continuum. The Ordre des ergothérapeutes, the Ordre des physiothérapeutes and the Association des établissements de réadaptation en déficience physique du Québec asked INESSS to look more closely at the rehabilitation care services available to stroke patients.

The specific assessment issues examined in this report are the basic structural components of the rehabilitation services in the different phases of the continuum (acute, postacute, the patient’s reintegration into his/her living environment); the organization of rehabilitation services; the characteristics of the available, recommended tools for assessing neurological deficits and disabilities; the nature of the rehabilitation and adaptation services required in the different phases of the continuum and  the mechanisms for continuously improving the quality of rehabilitation services.