About the program

The Comprehensive Stroke Program at Rush provides a full spectrum of stroke care, including an acute stroke inpatient service, an outpatient stroke clinic for routine follow-up care and a comprehensive neuroendovascular clinic for complex diagnoses. Supported by the resources of a world-class academic medical center and a new hospital, Rush’s stroke program is a collaborative effort involving many disciplines and departments, including neurology, neurosurgery, emergency medicine, rehabilitation medicine, radiology, laboratory services and nursing.

Clinical team

Stroke care at Rush is a collaborative effort involving many disciplines and departments, including neurology, neurosurgery, emergency medicine, rehabilitative medicine, radiology, laboratory services, nursing and other professions. Learn more about the stroke team.

Services provided

The Comprehensive Stroke Program at Rush treats approximately 800 inpatients with stroke and other cerebrovascular disorders each year.

The program offers the following services:

• Acute Stroke Inpatient Service: 24/7 services to respond immediately to acute stroke patients.
• Outpatient Stroke Clinic: For follow-up care.
• Center for Neuroendovascular Surgery: Offering expert evaluations in cerebrovascular disease.
• TIA Express Service: Expedited service for patients with suspected transient ischemic attacks (TIAs).
• Neurocritical Care
• Rush TeleStroke Network
• A transfer and consultation service staffed by stroke neurologists, neurointensivists and neurosurgeons on call 24/7
• Expedited emergency service for transient ischemic attacks, in which evaluations occurs within 24 hours of arrival to Rush
• Outpatient prevention clinic

Program features

The stroke team provides ongoing, up-to-date information to referring physicians and works closely with them to produce the best possible patient outcomes and to ultimately return the patient to the referring physician’s care. The Comprehensive Stroke Program also offers the following:

• Seamless transfers to Rush. Available 24 hours a day, seven days a week, the transfer team ensures efficient communication between the patient's physicians at the transferring facility and at Rush.
• A 25-bed neurointensive care unit run by fellowship-trained neurointensivists.
• A full continuum of rehabilitative care, including services provided at the bedside, at the inpatient rehabilitation unit on campus and through the adult day program.
• A telemedicine program, doctors at Rush address the short time window available for treatment and the limited availability of stroke neurologists who are required to swiftly and accurately diagnose stroke by remotely connecting partner hospitals to stroke specialists at Rush.

Advancing stroke care through research

Stroke research at Rush is focused on gaining a better understanding of cerebrovascular disease and implementing novel therapies through evidence-based medicine. For a current list of trials, visit our clinical trials page. 

More resources

• Clinical team publications
• Learn about our clinical trials
• Learn about Rush's new hospital
• Patient transfer information
• Rush Physician Liaison Service