[citation needed] They also continue to enhance StrokEngine, a Web-based educational tool which offers an "A to Z" listing of every stroke rehabilitation intervention currently available in Canada.
[7] The Canadian Stroke Network is a national leader in raising awareness about the health risks of excessive sodium consumption.
This annual Congress brings together nearly a thousand delegates from various disciplines, including physicians, nurses, students and rehabilitation specialists.
In 2005, it became a “prescribed entity” under Ontario's Personal Health Information Protection Act, permitting the collection of patient data without consent for the purposes of improving the provision of stroke care.
Case ascertainment is achieved prospectively by having dedicated nurse-coordinators keep daily logs of all new stroke / Transient ischemic attack admissions and emergency visits.
Given that the data are collected from a select group of hospitals, a significant limitation of the RCSN is that the results may not be generalizable to the entire population of patients with acute stroke.
Using the RCSN case record form and software, the OSA collected data on a random sample of all stroke and TIA patients presenting to all acute care hospitals in Ontario.
Cases are determined retrospectively using appropriate International Classification of Disease (ICD), 10th revision, Clinical Modification diagnostic codes for stroke (I60, I61, I63, I64, and G45, excluding G45.4).
By linking the data elements collected by SPIRIT to performance measures, continuous evaluation of provincial and national stroke care initiatives can occur.