Enhancing awareness of the NIHSS amongst undergraduate nursing students

Strokes are a medical emergency, occur in every patient population, and are a major cause of disability and mortality in the United States and worldwide. Strokes 1) are one of the acute complications associated with preeclampsia in pregnant women; 2) affect children from the perinatal period onward; and 3) are one of the neurological manifestations associated with COVID-19. Because "time lost is brain lost" it is imperative that healthcare providers recognize the signs and symptoms of a stroke, as well as be able to perform an initial evaluation using the National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS). For this project, an interactive lesson on the NIHSS, as it pertains to the adult patient population, will be presented to undergraduate nursing students with the goal of enhancing awareness of the NIHSS while reinforcing the concept that initial evaluation is critical to the subsequent care a patient receives.