Clinical Tools.
Bedside references for stroke clinicians — scales, eligibility checklists, imaging guides, and workflow tools built from the rhythm of an active stroke service.
Educational use only — always defer to your institutional protocols and clinical judgment.
Scoring & assessment.
NIHSS Pocket Guide
The 15-item National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale, with scoring conventions and the common pitfalls (item 9 vs item 10, dysarthria vs aphasia, sensory in aphasic patients).
PDF coming soonmRS — modified Rankin
The functional outcome scale used in every major stroke trial. Useful at admission (baseline) and at 90-day follow-up.
PDF coming soonASPECTS Visual Guide
The Alberta Stroke Program Early CT Score, region by region, with annotated normal and abnormal slices and the pitfalls in scoring under time pressure.
Walkthrough coming soonReperfusion & the door-to-needle clock.
TNK / tPA Eligibility Checklist
Inclusion and exclusion criteria for IV thrombolysis, contemporary indications, dosing for both alteplase and tenecteplase, and the soft-call cases worth flagging to the attending.
PDF coming soonDoor-to-Needle Bundle
The parallel-processing framework most certified stroke centers use to compress door-to-needle below 30 minutes — pre-notification, imaging-first, dosing-while-decision.
PDF coming soonThrombectomy Eligibility
A current decision map for endovascular therapy — early-window straightforward cases, late-window selection by CTP / MRI, and the expanding evidence for large-core thrombectomy.
Walkthrough coming soonAcute BP Targets
Pre-thrombolysis, post-thrombolysis, post-thrombectomy, ICH, and SAH — the numbers and the rationale, with the agents most teams use.
Coming soonFinding the mechanism.
Stroke Workup Checklist
Standard etiology workup organized by TOAST mechanism — vessel imaging, cardiac monitoring, echo, labs — plus what to add for cryptogenic and young-patient strokes.
PDF coming soonTOAST Classification
Mechanistic classification of ischemic stroke — large-artery atherosclerosis, cardioembolic, small-vessel, other determined, undetermined — with the workup needed to support each.
PDF coming soonYoung Stroke Workup
The additional workup for patients under 55 — hypercoagulable studies, dissection imaging, PFO bubble study, vasculopathy — in the order to send them.
Coming soonClosing the loop.
Post-Stroke Discharge Checklist
Antithrombotic strategy, BP plan, statin, diabetes control, AFib decision (with ELAN / OPTIMAS timing), rehab disposition, follow-up clinic, and the warning-sign teaching every patient leaves with.
PDF coming soonAntithrombotic Selection
Aspirin vs DAPT vs anticoagulation — choosing the right strategy by mechanism, with the duration and de-escalation plan.
Coming soonAC Restart After Stroke / ICH
When to start (or restart) anticoagulation after ischemic stroke with AFib (ELAN, OPTIMAS) and after intracerebral hemorrhage — the current trial-anchored timing.
Coming soon