Impact and engagement

NHMRC Impact Case Study

Quality in Acute Stroke (QASC) Program Impacts: A case study ‘Improving Stroke Outcomes’. Aug 2024   

Awards for QASC Research Program

• Winner: Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award – High-Impact Research 2024
• Finalist: Asia Pacific Triple E Awards ‘Impactful Research Team of the Year’ for the Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) Program 2024
• Winner: Australian Cardiovascular Alliance (ACvA) Excellence in Cardiovascular Research Translation Award 2023
• Finalist: Engagement Australia Excellence Awards. Award for Outstanding Engagement for Research Impact 2022
• Winner: Vice-Chancellor’s Staff Excellence Award, Excellence in Research and Research Partnerships for the Quality in Acute Stroke Care (QASC) Program 2019
• Finalist: Federal Health Minister’s inaugural Award for Nursing Trailblazers 2019
• Winner: Health Collaboration Awards: Service Delivery Category for The Angels Initiative (QASC Europe). European Federation of Pharmaceutical Industries and Associations (EFPIA) 2018

Awards QASC Europe Project

• Winner: (Cardiovascular and Stroke Nurse) Stroke Article of the Year Award 2023

Awards QASC Implementation Project

• Winner: NSW Premier’s Public Sector Award - Category: Improving Performance & Accountability 2014
• Winner: NSW Health Excellence in Nursing and Midwifery Awards - Excellence in Innovation Research (Prof Sandy Middleton) 2014
• Finalist: National Lead Clinicians Group Award - Excellence in Innovative Implementation of Clinical Practice 2014
• Winner: St Vincent's Clinic Foundation Clinical Excellence - Category of Emerging Researcher (Dr Anna Lydtin) 2014
• Winner: 5 Minute Research Pitch, Victoria University - Category: Science & Health (Simeon Dale) 2014

Awards for QASC Trial

• Canadian Stroke Congress Award for Impact in 2011
• Stroke Article of the Year - American Heart Association Council on Cardiovascular Nursing 2012
• Included in the Faculty of 1000 Library - Top 2% of international articles (biology and medical research) 

QASC Economic Evaluations

There have been two independent economic evaluation publications related to the QASC Program of work:

• The first, published in 2017 estimated that if 65% of eligible Australian stroke patients were managed using the FeSS Protocols over a 12 month period, there would be asaving of AUD $281 million (gross).¹
• The second economic evaluation (2021) estimated that if the FeSS protocols were in use for a five-year period, this would prevent 1,154 deaths and yield an extra 876 years of life lived and 3,180 QALYs. Additionally, the implementation of the QASC protocol would save the Australian healthcare system more than AUD 65.2 million. From a societal perspective, using the value of statistical life year, the savings would be AUD 251.7 million.²

Clinical Practice Guidelines

Widespread adoption of the FeSS Protocols throughout NSW and the inclusion of these care processes in the Stroke Foundation audits has seen increased uptake in their use in Australian hospitals.³ We conducted a successful translation The translational capacity of the FeSS Protocols (as evidenced in the QASC Europe project) has also seen their inclusion in other international stroke guidelines (UK; US; Lazio, Italy; Romania; and Kazakhstan (under consideration)).

There is now a Strong Recommendation to support use of the FeSS Protocols in the Australian Clinical Guidelines for Stroke Management.

Stroke Foundation Living Guidelines

Data variables to measure the use of the FeSS Protocols have now been included in the Australian Stroke Clinical Registry AuSCR and the Registry of Stroke Care Quality (RES-Q).

Media resources

• Education for stroke health professionals
• ABC News Video Clip
• QASC Europe video
• Australian Health Journal – Stroke care advances in translated research
• Bench Side Story – Professor Sandy Middleton

If you would like to get in contact with us, please email QASC@acu.edu.au