https://nclexkingdom.com/blog/stroke-tpa-eligibility Preparing for the NCLEX-RN means facing stroke questions that are sequencing questions: what comes first, and what never gets skipped? This cheat sheet turns ischemic stroke essentials - recognize, diagnose, and classify - into one page. It opens with rapid recognition: screening with FAST (face, arm, speech) outside the hospital, excluding hypoglycemia as a mimic of sudden neurological symptoms, using ROSIER for rapid diagnosis in the emergency department, and starting aspirin 300 mg daily immediately for suspected TIA unless contraindicated. Diagnosis comes next: the call is clinical, with CT or MRI to exclude hemorrhage, no CT for suspected TIA unless an alternative diagnosis is suspected, MRI with diffusion-weighted sequences on the same day as the TIA clinic, and urgent carotid imaging when endarterectomy is a candidate. Then come the four causes - cryptogenic, cardioembolism, lacunar, large-vessel atherosclerosis - and the risk factors led by hypertension, alongside unmodifiable ones like prior stroke and family history. The exam tests this because stroke care is order and exclusion, not trivia. Use the sheet actively: cover a row, recall it, check yourself against the pearls - specialist assessment within 24 hours of symptom onset for suspected TIA, why ABCD2 is not for triage, and thrombolysis for selected patients.   submitted by   /u/onomojo   to   r/nclexkingdom [link]   [comments]