Stroke System Change Definitions

Communication/education intervention

Strategies to inform and influence individual and community decisions that enhance health (e.g. a campaign to make people aware of the risk factors for stroke).

Community service intervention

A service, test, or treatment to improve health (e.g., mass screenings for hypertension).

Engineering intervention

Strategies designed to change the structure or types of services or systems of care to improve delivery of public health services. (e.g., new drugs to treat stroke such as tPA or development of electronic sphygmomanometers).

Gross Point Ratings (GPRs)

A measure of how many times people in any target audience have seen a media message based on viewer estimates for various segments of the population.

Policy intervention

A regulatory, legislative, or organizational ruling that supports improvements in the public’s health (e.g. a policy to make administering a stroke diagnostic test to any patient who exhibits any type of neurological deficit mandatory).