A stroke patient's experience at Duke involves many departments, working together to provide you with the best care possible. Click the arrows to take a tour of the Stroke Center.

For most stroke patients, Duke's Emergency Department (ED) is the gateway into Duke University Hospital. Total integration with the ED means that the Acute Stroke Response Team is activated within minutes when a patient arrives with stroke symptoms-- so evaluation can be done quickly and appropriate treatment started as soon as possible.

Prevention is the mainstay of stroke therapy, for patients who have never had a stroke as well as for those who have had a stroke or TIA. Duke has experts in all aspects of stroke prevention as well as the latest technological tools for stroke prevention and treatment. For those who have a stroke, Duke has fully integrated emergency services and an expert stroke rapid response team to assure that all appropriate patients are offered treatment with the clot-busting drug, tPA. We also have state-of-the-art technologies to remove clots from brain arteries in patients with a stroke who cannot be treated with tPA, but might benefit from these interventions. We have a full complement of experienced fellowship-trained specialists who focus their practice on treating patients with cerebrovascular diseases with these and other treatments. In addition to traditional surgical methods of treating narrowed arteries for stroke prevention, we can provide stent treatments for narrowed arteries leading to or within the brain. Our expertise includes surgical treatment and placement of coils to treat brain aneurysms. We believe that each patient deserves an expert to treat them -- and we can deliver that type of care.

The entire course of care is organized around critical pathways that facilitate the provision of multidisciplinary services. A multidisciplinary supervisory team continuously monitors the quality of stroke-related care.

Patient-centered care and state-of-the-art equipment ensure both safe and friendly delivery of care.

To ensure continuity of care, Duke provides Patient Resource Managers to coordinate your care with you, your doctor, and team throughout your hospital stay. The PRMs arrange for medically necessary services and resources to enhance your recovery at discharge. They also communicate as required with your insurance company.

Behind the scenes a Stroke Program Coordinator is working with your medical team to ensure that all stroke protocols are being followed and acts as a clinical resource for Neurology staff nurses caring for stroke patients. The Stroke Program Coordinator visits with patients and provides stroke education packets and smoking cessation materials if applicable. Personal, face-to-face, interaction allows the opportunity for patients and family to ask questions and learn more about stroke. This includes the importance for smoking cessation and any other lifestyle changes that would decrease the patient's risk for a subsequent stroke, or decrease a family member's risk of initial stroke.

Following a stroke, a speech-language pathologist evaluates for communication and swallowing difficulties. A plan is developed to provide therapy for any speech, language, or swallowing impairments identified. This may include services in the hospital as well as continued outpatient therapy if appropriate.

Early in the hospital stay, Duke occupational therapists work with you on goals centered around functional independence, activities of daily living, as well as perceptual, visual, and motor impairments. Patients progress along the continuum of care to our outpatient services, which focus on higher level skills such as isolating fine motor muscle function, driving assessments, and independent functioning within the community.

Duke physical therapists also provide comprehensive inpatient and outpatient care to address the challenges after a stroke. Our therapist will conduct standardized tests and develop a treatment strategy focusing on improving strength, range of motion, enhancing functional mobility skills, normalizing gait, and progressing to community level activities such as stair climbing.

The cornerstone of Duke’s success is taking the lessons learned from our patients’ care and our nationally recognized clinical research to advance the field with new treatments and protocols.