The National Institutes of Health Stroke Scale (NIHSS), or NIH Stroke Scale, is the most widely used tool for health professionals to assess the severity of a stroke. Developed more than 30 years ago, the NIH Stroke Scale(pdf, 4218 KB) has recently been updated with new visual stimuli and is available for download.
The updated NIH Stroke Scale features a new illustration, the “Precarious Painter,” which shows a young man falling from a stepladder while painting a wall. Patients are asked to describe the detailed scene to evaluate their ability to communicate following a stroke. The new picture, validated by research that appeared in Stroke, uses contemporary imagery to depict a universally understood scene with many areas of interest to comment on.
The object-naming flashcard has also been updated to include items that are recognizable and relevant worldwide. The previous flashcard included some images, including a cactus and a hammock, that may have been unfamiliar to people living in different parts of the world. They have been replaced with universally recognizable items such as a mouse, cloud, and leaf.
For more information about stroke, please visit the NINDS Stroke information page.