The impact of a neuro-intensivist on patients with stroke admitted to a neurosciences intensive care unit.

Introduction: Stroke Units improve the outcome in patients with mild to moderate severity strokes. We sought to examine the role that a full-time neurointensivist (NI) might play on the outcomes of patients with more severe strokes admitted to a Neurosciences Intensive Care Unit (NICU).

Methods: Data regarding 433 stroke patients admitted to a 10-bed university hospital NICU were prospectively collected in two 19-month periods, before and after the appointment of a NI.