[Stroke units in Chile].

Stroke is a major public health problem in Chile, with an incidence similar to that of many industrialized nations, it accounts for 10% of all deaths and ranks 5th in number of healthy years of life lost to a disease. Organized inpatient care for stroke patients has been shown in systematic reviews of randomized clinical trials to be effective in preventing death, disability and institutional care, without increasing length of stay compared to usual care. Organized stroke unit care is provided by multidisciplinary teams that exclusively manage stroke patients in a dedicated ward (stroke ward) of which there are various possible models; acute stroke units which accept patients acutely but discharge early (usually within 7 days). This could include an "intensive" model of care with continuous monitoring and high nurse staffing levels; comprehensive (i.e. combined acute and rehabilitation) stroke units which accept patients acutely but also provide rehabilitation for at least several weeks if necessary. The way in which stroke units affect outcome is through reduction of complications of immobility and probably non specific neuroprotection. Stroke units should deliver high quality evidence based interventions to all eligible patients and should maintain high standards of care through staff training, guidelines and protocols, audit and quality assurance. Given that stroke is one of the fifty six health priorities in the health reform, inpatient stroke care should be delivered through stroke units organized in hospitals throughout Chile.