Introducing the Stroke Quality Improvement team

Stroke Foundation has recently created a new team to strengthen the foundations of best-practice stroke care, consistent with the Living Stroke Guidelines.

It builds on the successful StrokeLink quality improvement program in Queensland, and will include the revamped National Stroke Audit.

Melita Stirling manages this new QI team, and she’s shared a bit about herself and what her team hopes to achieve.

What is your background?

Originally I did a Bachelor of Creative Arts, majoring in Classical Singing and Drama, but that was a long time ago!

I retrained as a speech pathologist, and after graduating in 2005 I worked with stroke survivors in several settings, across acute, rehabilitation and domiciliary services.

How long have you been with Stroke Foundation?

I joined Stroke Foundation in 2016, working on the StrokeLine support service.

That’s led to several different roles, including redesigning the online goal-setting tool on EnableMe to better match clinical recommendations, and hospital engagement in NSW and ACT, connecting them with Stroke Foundation’s clinical and consumer resources.

In the past couple of years I was also involved in setting up the National Webinar Series for health professionals and the Stroke and Recovery webinar for survivors and community members.

How many people are in the new QI team?

We’re just getting started, so at the moment it’s just me and Lisa Yates, who’s running the continuing StrokeLink program in Queensland.

Next we’re recruiting for someone to coordinate the Tasmanian StrokeLink program, and for a Data Coordinator to run the National Stroke Audit.

What is happening with the audit?

The National Stroke Audit remains one of Stroke Foundation’s key programs for promoting evidence-based stroke care, but it’s been on hold while we review it following an evaluation that was completed in 2021.

I’m happy to say that the new and improved audit will start in 2023, although it might be a bit later in the year than usual. Watch this space!

What is the StrokeLink program?

StrokeLink is a program of quality improvement activities to bring processes of care in line with the Living Stroke Guidelines. It’s been funded in Queensland by the state government since 2007, when the National Stroke Audit began.

A feature of the StrokeLink program, is facilitated workshops at hospitals with the multi-disciplinary stroke team. We begin by carefully analysing a site’s Audit and AuSCR data, and working with their team to identify one or more areas to develop QI activities with action plans. Then over the next 6–12 months we continue to monitor the data to see how patient care processes are performing, and provide follow-up support.

Queensland StrokeLink is very well perceived by participants, and a formal evaluation of the program showed an improvement in the targeted clinical care quality indicators.

The past few years we’ve also been getting a version of the program up and running in Tasmania and plan to enhance the activities there next year.

Where are things headed in the future?

Eventually we hope to have the funding to take the StrokeLink program national!

The goal is to create what’s known as a Learning Health System, in which new knowledge is turned into practice, practice gets turned into data, which is analysed to generate new knowledge, which is turned into practice again, and so on.

The result is higher quality, safer and more efficient care.

What do you like to do in your spare time?

I love outdoor adventures and challenges that push me out of my comfort zone, like sky diving and bungy jumping!

My regular activities though include dragon boating, ocean swimming, singing, and wrangling kids (of the teenage variety).

How can people find out more about stroke QI activities?

Information about the Audit is of course on InformMe, and we’ll be putting updates there and in the newsletter. On InformMe you can also find information about the National Webinar Series. We have lots of great new topics planned for next year!

For everything else, people can email me directly at MStirling@strokefoundation.org.au, or if you want you can phone me on (02) 7200 8403.