Details:

Alternative Title:
Prev Chronic Dis
Personal Author:
Patel, Mehul D. ; Brice, Jane H. ; Evenson, Kelly R. ; Rose, Kathryn M. ; Suchindran, Chirayath M. ; ... More +
Patel, Mehul D. ; Brice, Jane H. ; Evenson, Kelly R. ; Rose, Kathryn M. ; Suchindran, Chirayath M. ; Rosamond, Wayne D. Less -
Description:
Introduction

Prior assessments of emergency medical services (EMS) stroke capacity found deficiencies in education and training, use of protocols and screening tools, and planning for the transport of patients. A 2001 survey of North Carolina EMS providers found many EMS systems lacked basic stroke services. Recent statewide efforts have sought to standardize and improve prehospital stroke care. The objective of this study was to assess EMS stroke care capacity in North Carolina and evaluate statewide changes since 2001.

Methods

In June 2012, we conducted a web-based survey on stroke education and training and stroke care practices and policies among all EMS systems in North Carolina. We used the McNemar test to assess changes from 2001 to 2012.

Results

Of 100 EMS systems in North Carolina, 98 responded to our survey. Most systems reported providing stroke education and training (95%) to EMS personnel, using a validated stroke scale or screening tool (96%), and having a hospital prenotification policy (98%). Many were suboptimal in covering basic stroke educational topics (71%), always communicating stroke screen results to the destination hospital (46%), and always using a written destination plan (49%). Among 70 EMS systems for which we had data for 2001 and 2012, we observed significant improvements in education on stroke scales or screening tools (61% to 93%, P < .001) and use of validated stroke scales or screening tools (23% to 96%, P < .001).

Conclusion

Major improvements in EMS stroke care, especially in prehospital stroke screening, have occurred in North Carolina in the past decade, whereas other practices and policies, including use of destination plans, remain in need of improvement.


Subjects:
[+]
Allied Health Personnel Clinical Protocols Community-Institutional Relations Emergency Medical Services Health Care Surveys Health Education Humans Stroke
Source:
Prev Chronic Dis. 10.
Document Type:
Journal Article
Place as Subject:
North Carolina
Collection(s):
Preventing Chronic Disease
Main Document Checksum:
[+]
urn:sha256:8bf26e9aff5d27ac721b65da3b774b5e6c7405c8ce5976269bf6e955e3a4f609
Download URL:
https://stacks.cdc.gov/view/cdc/21002/cdc_21002_DS1.pdf
File Type:

Supporting Files

• 	license.txt	txt
  	PCD-10-E149.nxml	txt
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  	PCD-10-E149s01.jpg	jpeg
  	PCD-10-E149s02.gif	gif
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