Cerebrovascular Accident in Australia

Running head: Stroke 1
Cerebrovascular Accident in Australia
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Introduction
The cerebrovascular accident (CVA) is also called a stroke or brain attack. It is a severe
condition that is among the leading causes of death in Australia. It is a long-term disability that
mostly affects young adults in Australia. Cerebrovascular accident is the medical term that is
used for the stroke. When the blood vessels that supply blood to the brain are blocked suddenly,
the stroke condition is called an ischaemic stroke, and when the raptures of the vessels start
bleeding, it is called haemorrheagic stroke. It causes a sudden loss of sensation that may last for
more than 24 hours (Hsu et al., 2017, pp. 692-699). Most deaths that are reported in Australia
due to cerebrovascular illness is from a stroke. Current studies have shown that stroke has
increased cases of mortality and morbidity in younger adults in Australia. Nearly half of the
CVA related deaths are due to poor management of the variable factors which can be prevented.
There are societal barriers in the lower socio-economic groups, which increases the prevalence of
the disease into these vulnerable groups in Australia (Tănăsoiu & Albu, 2017, pp. 45-48).
The Prevalence, Mortality, and Burden of CVA in Australia
The CVA disease affects about 1.2% of Australian patients in sometimes of their lifetime. This
percentage corresponds to 217 500 people (Béjot et al., 2016, pp. 59-68). The different
communities of Australia are affected by the disease. The Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander
persons are the more significant population in Australia known to be the indigenous population.
The preference of the disease in Australia was monitored through the reported case in the
hospital facilities. The prevalence of stroke cases in Australia is 1.7%, and the mortality rate is
around 6.8% (Giang et al., 2017, pp. 12(6)). About 378 aboriginal persons and 10285 non-
indigenous populations in Australia were identified and recorded having a stroke in a period of

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study of 5 years. Among these groups, 80% of each group managed to survive for 28 days only
(Katzenellenbogen et al., 2016, pp. 103-116).
At a restricted age of 15 to 64 years, the rate ration of the incidence was higher at males 4.6:
females 5.8 in terms of non-fatal incidences of the disease (Arnao et al., 2016, pp. 287-301).
Excess mortality rate and the survival duration increased for both the non-indigenous and the
indigenous population. According to the past, the mortality rate of CVA is higher in the
indigenous people than in the non-indigenous population between all ages (Middleton et al.,
2017, pp. 1331-1336).
The average survival of the people who developed stroke for the first time is 13 years
lower in the males and seven years lower in females among the indigenous population. In non-
indigenous, the survival age ranges from 15 to 24 years’ age groups. In 2005 there were around
100 cases of CVA every day in Australia. More than 60% of the cases of stroke in the non-
indigenous burden affected the people aged between 15 to 54 years as compared to those of the
non-indigenous population with 24% (Katzenellenbogen et al., 2016, pp. 103-116). The deaths
caused by the disease cause a socioeconomic barrier where many children and the young
population are left suffering after the loss of their breadwinners. The disease makes life very
difficult since the government has to spend a lot while dealing with the causes, treatment,
management measures, and harmful effects of the CVA disease (Béjot et al., 2016, pp. 59-68).
Characteristics of people with CVA in Australia
Socio-demographic characteristics
Heath related Disease

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Some of the risk factors of stroke can be controlled. These manageable factors include gender,
family history, and age. Other risk factors of stroke are related to lifestyles. These lifestyles
related factors that may increase chances of developing stroke include; diabetes, high blood
pressure, excessive drinking of alcohol, lack of regular exercise, cigarette smoking, high level of
blood cholesterol, obesity, a diet with high levels of fats and salt and low levels of fibre,
vegetables, and fruits (O'Donnell et al., 2016, pp. 761-775). The other significant risk factor is
atrial fibrillation that is experienced by people of older age (Andrew et al., 2016, pp. 2053-2062).
Disability levels
There are five disabilities that can occur due to stroke disease; paralysis, painful sensory
disturbance, challenges in understanding a particular language, thinking and memory disability,
and emotional distress. The type of disability caused by a stroke depends on the part of the brain
that is damaged. Paralysis occurs on one side of the body. The side of the body that is paralyzed
is usually opposite to the side of the brain that is affected. Sensory destruction includes the
deficits to feel pain, temperature, touch, or position. Most of the people living with CVA disease
experience language impairments such as inability to write, speak, or understand both written or
spoken language. Stroke survivors have deficits in short-term memory, attention, comprehension,
planning, and learning. Emotional disturbances experienced by CVA survivors include; fear,
frustrations, sadness, anxiety, and anger (Crichton et al., 2016, pp. 1091-1098).
Cost
In the year 2012, there were more than 420000 people who lived with CVA disease in
Australia, where two-thirds of them were unable to carry out their daily life activities due to
disability effects of stroke. The overall financial cost that the Australian government spent on

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healthcare due to stroke disease and its impact was estimated to be around $ 5 billion. The carer
cost was about $222 million, and the health cost had a reasonable cost of $881 million (Zhai et
at, 2017, pp. 2362-2368). The personal cost of an individual caused by stroke includes; loss of
jobs, which will lead to low production by the affected individual. And individual experienced
maximum use of resources like labour as he/she cannot perform his/her duties due to stroke
complications. The loss of production in goods and services will lead to high market prices.
There is also a lot of unpaid work, loss of informal healthcare hence more premature deaths. An
individual also experiences a high cost of treatment, aids, transport, funeral cost, and
accommodation cost, which in turn affect a person’s socioeconomic status and wellbeing (Zhao
et al., 2016, pp. 458-465).
Role of the Nurse
Some of the roles of the nurse taking care and assessing a patient with the cerebrovascular
accident can be identified and discussed as follows; a nurse helps the patient in psychological
monitoring and maintaining homeostasis. The quality and efficient performance of the nurse can
assist in reducing the mortality and morbidity of CVA conditions. A nurse plays an essential role
in preventing certain complications that may worsen the status of the disease. During the
assessment of a patient with stroke, a nurse ensures that the airways are stabilized for free
gaseous exchange. It is the responsibility of the nurse to provide a rapid examination and concise
review of the history that is administered instantaneously while the patient is accessing IV, lab
tests, and telemetry. A nurse takes the responsibility of positioning the patient to prevent
contractures, attain proper body alignment, and relieve pressure. He/she also can prevent flexion
in the affected parts of the body by applying splint (Dreyer et al., 2016, pp. 108-115). The other
measures that are important while assessing a stroke patient are;

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- Absence or presence of involuntary or voluntary movements in the extremities.
- Speaking capacity.
- Maintenance of the levels of the blood pressure
- The patient’s levels of consciousness
- Presence of bleeding
- Eye normality
- Flaccidity and stiffness of the neck.
- Color of the skin and extremities (Bjartmarz et al., 2017, pp. 16(1), 72).
Due to the vital roles nurses play while assessing the stroke patient, the empowerment of nurses
is essential. These nurses require maximum training and education about stroke patients to gain
more knowledge and skills needed for the assessment and patient-centered care evaluation
procedures (Ram, 2019, pp. 90-96).
Care Services Available to Patients Living with CVA
Some of the care services that are available for a patient with stroke include speech pathologists,
physiotherapists, and clinical neuropsychologists.
CVA patients require a speech therapist to help them improve their conversing skills. When a
person is affected by stroke, they surfer speech disturbance. This is where the patient is unable to
understand something that is being communicated. The speech pathologist will help the aged
patient to improve his/her communication skills and hence conversing ability (Faria et al., 2016,
pp. 96).
.

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Stroke patients also experience mental disabilities, especially those at an older age. These
patients, while recovering, they require psychotherapist who will help them in psychotherapy
interventions to gain clear consciousness. In mental health issues, the most appropriate health
specialist to the CVA patient is a neuropsychologist (Harrison et al., 2017, pp. 119-125).
A physiotherapist can help stroke patients with physical recovery. The specialist
understands the progression of the disease and determines the most efficient physiotherapies to
conduct to the patient to improve the CVA condition. A physiotherapist is able to evaluate and
suggest the kind interventions required to an elderly patient as compared to the ones required by
a younger stroke patient. The specialist will determine the strategies and procedures that improve
the wellbeing of the patient (Billinger et al., 2014, pp. 2532-2553).
Support Services Available for Carers of Patients Living with CVA
Emotional support
Both the stroke survivor and his/her family/caregivers experience common emotions
during hospitalization and even after discharge from the hospital. The caregivers fearful and
uncertain emotions as a result of the limited roles, personality changes, and physical functioning
of their loved ones. It is recommendable for the healthcare professional to advise the caregiver of
ways to handle such post-stroke emotions. One can get emotional support from friends, family
members, and friends. A carer can relieve the emotions by seeking additional information from
reliable stroke survivors and caregivers. One can also share his/her emotions with some who
understand the disease and the effects better, for example, a community counselor. It is also
advised to seek more information to get more knowledge about stroke so that to control the
emotions from various sources. These sources include; organization of stroke association, life

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after stroke resources, effects of stroke, stroke connections magazines, and also professional
assistance (Kruithof et al., 2016, pp. 1632-1640).
Rehabilitation
The healthcare team should direct the caregiver of a stroke patient on the appropriate
rehabilitation services to enable the loved ones to have a smooth recovery. As a crucial member
of treatment, the caregiver has to ask the doctor to assist with rehabilitation services while at
home to improve their patient’s recovery plan. A responsible healthcare manger will direct
his/her multidisciplinary team to deliver their accountable services to the stroke patient who is
under home care. These services include; physical therapy, speech therapy, recreation therapy,
and rehabilitation nursing services (Luker et al., 2017, pp. 1852-1862).
Financial Support
The rehabilitation and recovery of a stroke patient can be very costly. This is due to some
consequences of the illness, such as loss of a job, bad health, and drain of the family’s finances.
The healthcare team can assist the caregiver by directing him/her to the financial and aids
experts. These experts work through the community social workers who can help in negotiating
with the private and government sectors for some donations. Other resources that can aid in the
financial issue are the certified financial programmers and attorneys who have specialized in
elderly care and disabilities (Rubbens et al., 2017, pp. 299-303).
Conclusion
The CVA disease has been noted among the illnesses that lead to causing disease in
Australia. The rate at which the disease affects the different groups of people in Australia differs
much. The prevalence of the CVA cases in Australia is estimated at 1.7%, and the mortality rate

Stroke 9
of the disease is around 6.8%. The disease remains a burden in the daily life and economy of the
country. The disease affects both the indigenous and non-indigenous communities in Australia.
The disability levels caused by a stroke in Australia are estimated to in 39% of the people
affected by CVA disease. The disease affects the patient health and wellbeing of those who
surround him/her. There are several interventions and assistance services required on the road of
recovery of stroke condition. These services are very crucial to both the patient and the
caregivers.

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