Table 1

Specifications of evidence-based performance measures

Performance measures of ischaemic stroke careDefinition of performance measures for eligible patients*
Acute performance measures
 Intravenous rt-PA <2 hoursIntravenous recombinant tissue plasminogen activator (rt-PA) in patients who arrived within 2 hours after initial symptom onset and treated within 3 hours.
 Early antithromboticsAntithrombotic therapy prescribed within 48 hours of hospitalisation, including antiplatelet or anticoagulant therapy.
 DVT prophylaxisPatients at risk for deep vein thrombosis (DVT) (non-ambulatory) who received DVT prophylaxis by end of hospital day 2, including pneumatic compression, warfarin sodium or heparin sodium.
Performance measures at discharge
 Discharge antithromboticsAntithrombotic therapy prescribed at discharge.
 Anticoagulation for atrial fibrillationAnticoagulation prescribed at discharge for patients with atrial fibrillation or atrial flutter documented during hospitalisation.
 LDL 100Lipid-lowering agent prescribed at discharge if low-density lipoprotein (LDL) ≥100 mg/dL.
 Antihypertensive therapy for hypertensionAntihypertension medication prescribed at discharge for patients with a history of hypertension or hypertension documented during hospitalisation.
 Hypoglycaemic therapy for diabetes mellitusHypoglycaemic medication prescribed at discharge for patients with a history of diabetes mellitus or diabetes mellitus documented during hospitalisation.
 Smoking cessationSmoking cessation intervention (counselling or medication) prior to discharge for current or recent smokers.
  • *Eligible patients were those without any medical contraindications (eg, treatment intolerance, excessive risk of adverse reaction, patient/family refusal or terminal illness/comfort care only) and documented as reasons for non-treatment for each of the applicable measures. We also excluded patients who were discharged to hospice, or another short-term general hospital, or against medical advice before the end of hospital day 2. For acute performance measures except for rt-PA measure, we excluded patients who died before the end of hospital day 2. For the acute rt-PA measure, we excluded patients with missing or erroneous onset, arrival or treatment times, those who began intravenous tissue-type plasminogen activator (t-PA) at an outside hospital, or who initiated intravenous t-PA after 180 min from onset. For performance measures at discharge, we excluded patients who died during hospitalisation. As for seven performance measures from the Get With The Guideline-Stroke (GWTG-Stroke), we employed the same criteria as the GWTG-Stroke.