About the Hennepin

Stroke Center

Info for Health

Professionals

Info for Patients

Continuing care at the Hennepin Stroke Center after a stroke

In addition to its nationally recognized acute care services, Hennepin Stroke Center at Hennepin County Medical Center provides a full range of care for patients after the stroke. Inpatient and outpatient rehabilitative care is provided through Hennepin County Medical Center’s Miland E. Knapp Rehabilitation Center, an on-site, acute rehabilitation program which is accredited by the Commission on Accreditation of Rehabilitation Facilities as an inpatient brain injury rehabilitation program for adults and adolescents. The center was the first in Minnesota to be accredited as an inpatient brain injury treatment center. Outcomes data from this unique program show:

• The percentage of patients who are able to return home is higher at Hennepin County Medical Center than at hospitals regionally and nationally. Approximately 78% of Hennepin Stroke Center patients are able to return to their homes.1 
• Stroke patients make more progress in self-care skills (such as self-feeding, walking, and speaking) at Hennepin County Medical Center as compared to stroke patients regionally and nationally.2
• Stroke patients achieve faster progress in self-care skills at Hennepin County Medical Center as compared to stroke patients regionally and nationally.3

These outcomes are achieved in part through the following:

Highly experienced and trained staff members. Inpatient rehabilitation nurses have an average of ten years of experience. Both day and evening inpatient nursing staff are rehabilitation-trained so that exercises learned during therapy can continue outside therapy appointments, when appropriate. The outpatient clinic team includes highly trained professionals, including three interventional neurologists, two endovascular physicians, rehabilitation professionals, an endovascular fellow, and a geriatric fellow.

Interdisciplinary conferences that include the patient and family. While many hospitals use the “rounding” method for patient follow-up (in which the care team meets about each patient and a social worker transmits the information to patients after the meeting has occurred), the care team at Hennepin Stroke Center includes the patient and family members in each care conference to ensure all questions are answered.

A progressive series of services available to patients. Patients are treated through a series of as many as four rehabilitation programs:

1. Intensive inpatient rehabilitative care. Rehabilitation is provided during day and evening shifts during inpatient care.
2. A “stepdown” day hospital program. In the stepdown program, patients stay at the hospital every day to participate in a full day of rehabilitation services and then go home at night.
3. A multi-service outpatient care service. Patients in this program typically receive services several times per week. Appointments with various rehabilitation specialists are grouped for convenience and all care is provided on a single floor of the hospital.
4. Single-service outpatient care program. For patients who require it, a single service, such as speech pathology or occupational therapy appointments, can be accessed.

The Hennepin Stroke Center at Hennepin County Medical Center is a national leader in treatment of ischemic and hemorrhagic strokes with some of the fastest clot-busting drug delivery times in the U.S.

If you are a patient and would like to make an appointment at the rehabilitation center, call (612) 873-3950.

If you are a physician and would like to request a consultation or refer a stroke patient, call (800) 424-4262 or (612) 873-4262.

References:

1.  Data source: Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activities Inc. (UBFA). Data compares rate of HCMC patients returning to the setting where they lived pre-stroke with the aggregate rate from hospitals regionally and nationally.  Data are adjusted for severity of illness to improve the ability to compare rates.

Data source:

2. Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activities Inc. (UBFA). Patients are rated on a seven-point scale for their self-care abilities at admission and discharge. The difference between the admission and discharge score for HCMC patients, divided by length-of-stay, is compared with aggregated results from hospitals regionally and nationally. 

3. Data source: Uniform Data System for Medical Rehabilitation, a division of UB Foundation Activities Inc. (UBFA).