Quality monitoring of acute stroke care in Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, 2001-2006.

Background And Purpose: Quality monitoring projects are useful tools to improve the quality and to assess temporal trends of stroke care in larger populations.

Methods: In Rhineland-Palatinate, Germany, a statewide, hospital-based, acute stroke care quality monitoring project was started in 2001. Initially, participation was mandatory for all hospitals with dedicated stroke units and from 2006 onward was mandatory for all hospitals.