Our Famous ‘Magic Wand’ Podcast Question
What The Answers Reveal About Common Themes Around Barriers to Better Stroke Care Delivery
As a co-host of the Know Stroke Podcast, my co-host Mike Garrow and I have both worked hard over the past 4+ years to bring in guests to the show from around the world that are doing the best work on innovating to improve stroke care.
We’ve also had many stroke survivors and care provider partners join us to share their lived-experiences with life after stroke. All guests have the opportunity to answer our, (somewhat famous) ‘magic wand’ question as we close out each episode.
The question we ask is—"If we could give you a magic wand, how would you redefine or improve the stroke care pathway?"
Every guest has provided a variety of insightful suggestions. My co-host and I both have our list of favorites, but each time we have a new guest on they keep inspiring us with surprising new insights and answers get better and better…
Here’s a short video clip from Episode 32 of a magic wand answer from a prominant stroke researcher
From Interview with Dr. Nick Ward. Professor of Clinical Neurology & Neurorehabilitation, UCL Institute of Neurology, a world renowned stroke researcher (see bio at end of article).
This one is on both our favorites list!
Enjoyed this clip?- Here’s Dr. Nick Ward’s Full Episode Link
Here’s a short list of the common themes from the other nearly 80 episode responses to the Magic Wand Question:
Enhanced Public Education and Awareness: Many guests emphasize the need for widespread public education campaigns to raise awareness about stroke symptoms, risk factors, and the importance of timely medical attention. They advocate for integrating stroke education into school curricula and community programs to ensure early recognition and prompt response. Also of importance was the theme of having lifelong learning pathways for work retraining and ongoing longitudinal behavioral health education.
Streamlined Emergency Response Systems: Several experts suggest improving emergency medical services (EMS) protocols to ensure rapid identification and transport of stroke patients to appropriate facilities. This includes better training for EMS personnel and the implementation of standardized stroke assessment tools. Different barriers to EMS response throughout various parts of the world were identified with unique tech enabled triage options offered as solutions in the field.
Comprehensive Post-Stroke Rehabilitation: A recurring recommendation is the development of individualized, multidisciplinary rehabilitation programs that address the physical, cognitive, and emotional needs of stroke survivors. This approach aims to enhance recovery outcomes and support reintegration into daily life. The common theme in responses from both clinical experts and survivors here suggest we are not doing enough to support ongoing physical and emotional rehabilitation needs over all phases of care including and especially once discharged to home.
Equitable Access to Care: Guests often highlight the importance of ensuring that all individuals, regardless of socioeconomic status or geographic location, have access to high-quality stroke care. This includes expanding telemedicine services and increasing the availability of specialized stroke centers in underserved areas with new approaches to recognize the social determinants of health (SDOH) in improving care delivery.
Advancements in Research and Technology: Some guests advocate for increased investment in research to better understand stroke mechanisms and develop innovative treatments. They also support the integration of cutting-edge technologies, such as artificial intelligence and wearable devices, to enhance diagnosis, monitoring, and personalized care. Survivors also echoed this need and urged innovators and researchers to include them in the ideation process, research and problem solving, stating ‘don’t tell us what we need, instead, ask us and include us in the solution.’ They also stated they felt they have not been given a seat at the table at national stroke conferences (ISC) due to the high costs of admission and barriers with travel to these events.
These collective insights underscore a multifaceted approach to improving the stroke care pathway, focusing on prevention, rapid response, comprehensive rehabilitation, equitable access, and technological innovation.
Where Did Our ‘Famous’ Question Come From?
It occurred to me with all the research we’ve done with every episode and even being guests on other podcasts telling our stories, nobody has asked us where the magic wand question came from or what our own magic wand answer to this question would be.
While I can’t speak for my co-host I will tell you what my answer is on both these questions in my next article. Here’s that episode now live as Know Stroke Podcast Episode 78.
More on our guest from podcast episode 32 highlighted in this article
Here’s the full episode link to watch on YouTube
About our Guest:
Professor Ward is a consultant neurologist at National Hospital for Neurology and Neurosurgery and a professor of clinical neurology and neurorehabilitation at Queen Square UCL Institute of Neurology. His special clinical interest is in stroke and neurorehabilitation, focusing in particular on recovery of arm and hand function through the Queen Square upper limb neurorehabilitation programme. He is the founder of the Neurorehabilitation Online N-ROL project. He is co-founder of the UCLP Centre for Neurorehabilitation, co-editor Oxford Textbook of Neurorehabilitation and associate editor of the journals Neurorehabilitation and Neural Repair and Journal of Neurology, Neurosurgery and Psychiatry.
Professor Ward leads a research program to help understand the mechanisms of upper limb impairment and treatment after stroke. In particular, he uses structural and functional brain imaging to study the relationship between brain network reorganisation and recovery of movement after stroke.
More On Our Podcast:
Welcome to the Know Stroke Podcast with your co-hosts Mike Garrow (stroke caregiver) & David Dansereau (stroke survivor). Listen back to Episode 1 of the podcast to hear our personal stories of how stroke impacted our lives and sparked a mission to amplify the voices, contributions, and achievements of change makers in stroke care.
Show music by Jake Dansereau and show intro welcome voice of stroke survivor Caroline Goggin (see episode 2).
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Our Mission:
Empowering stroke survivors and their care teams to take control of life after stroke.
Know Stroke Podcast Disclaimer:
Our podcast and media advertising services are for informational purposes only and do not constitute the practice of medical advice, diagnosis or treatment. Always talk to your health care provider for diagnosis and treatment, including your specific medical needs.