The role of the healthcare assistant on a stroke unit: A scoping review

Objective This scoping review explores the role of a healthcare assistant on a stroke unit, potential barriers to role fulfilment and whether stroke-specific training could enhance rehabilitative practice. Data sources Searches were conducted on CINAHL, MEDLINE and APA PsycInfo in May 2021 and repeated in September 2022. Methods This scoping review was guided by Arksey and O’Malley's framework. Article selection and data extraction were conducted by one researcher using a structured proforma. A narrative approach to data synthesis was undertaken following the research questions. Results From a combined total of 533 articles, sixty-six full-text articles were assessed for eligibility. Sixteen full articles were included in this review. A healthcare assistants’ role was viewed as caring directly for patients – some individuals felt they contributed to rehabilitation during these tasks, and that they could be undervalued by multidisciplinary team members, patients and their families. The barriers identified to healthcare assistants’ role fulfilment were lack of time, training and staffing shortages. Training was perceived to improve healthcare assistants’ communication, confidence and knowledge but training needed to be flexible, ward based and accommodate staffing shortages. However, it is unclear whether training has any clinical benefit for patients. Conclusion Healthcare assistants are well placed to enhance rehabilitative practice with patients; however, there are clear perceived barriers to this occurring. Future research should aim to define the role of healthcare assistants and explore whether further stroke-specific training could cause clinical benefits for patients.