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Diagnosis of stroke by emergency medical dispatchers and its impact on the prehospital care of patients.

Publication ,  Journal Article
Caceres, JA; Adil, MM; Jadhav, V; Chaudhry, SA; Pawar, S; Rodriguez, GJ; Suri, MFK; Qureshi, AI
Published in: J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis
November 2013

BACKGROUND: Emergency medical dispatchers represent the first line of communication with a patient, and their decision plays an important role in the prehospital care of stroke. We evaluated the rate and accuracy of stroke diagnosis by dispatchers and its influence in the prehospital care of potential stroke patients. METHODS: We analyzed the 2009 National Emergency Medical Services Information System. Study population was based on the diagnosis of stroke made by emergency medical technicians (EMT). This was then divided in those coded as stroke/cerebrovascular accident versus others reported by dispatchers and compared with each other. RESULTS: In all, 67,844 cases were identified as stroke by EMT, but transportation time was available for 52,282 cases that represented the final cohort. Cases identified as stroke by dispatchers were 27,566 (52.7%). When this group compared with stroke cases not identified by dispatchers, we found that the mean age was significantly higher (71.2 versus 68.6 years, P<.0001); advanced life support was dispatched more frequently (84% versus 72.8%, P<.0001), dispatchers offered help and instructions to the caller more frequently, and they arrived at a facility at a shorter time (41.8 versus 49.8 minutes, P<0001). Sensitivity and specificity for the diagnosis of stroke by dispatchers were 34.61 and 99.46, respectively. CONCLUSIONS: Recognition of symptoms and diagnosis of a potential stroke by dispatchers positively affect the care of patients by decreasing the arrival time to a hospital and providing the highest level of prehospital care possible. Education is needed to increase dispatcher's detection of stroke cases.

Duke Scholars

Published In

J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis

DOI

EISSN

1532-8511

Publication Date

November 2013

Volume

22

Issue

8

Start / End Page

e610 / e614

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Triage
  • Transportation of Patients
  • Time-to-Treatment
  • Time Factors
  • Stroke
  • Remote Consultation
  • Quality of Health Care
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Middle Aged
 

Citation

APA
Chicago
ICMJE
MLA
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Caceres, J. A., Adil, M. M., Jadhav, V., Chaudhry, S. A., Pawar, S., Rodriguez, G. J., … Qureshi, A. I. (2013). Diagnosis of stroke by emergency medical dispatchers and its impact on the prehospital care of patients. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis, 22(8), e610–e614. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.07.039
Caceres, J Alfredo, Malik M. Adil, Vikram Jadhav, Saqib A. Chaudhry, Swaroop Pawar, Gustavo J. Rodriguez, M Fareed K. Suri, and Adnan I. Qureshi. “Diagnosis of stroke by emergency medical dispatchers and its impact on the prehospital care of patients.J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis 22, no. 8 (November 2013): e610–14. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.07.039.
Caceres JA, Adil MM, Jadhav V, Chaudhry SA, Pawar S, Rodriguez GJ, et al. Diagnosis of stroke by emergency medical dispatchers and its impact on the prehospital care of patients. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2013 Nov;22(8):e610–4.
Caceres, J. Alfredo, et al. “Diagnosis of stroke by emergency medical dispatchers and its impact on the prehospital care of patients.J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis, vol. 22, no. 8, Nov. 2013, pp. e610–14. Pubmed, doi:10.1016/j.jstrokecerebrovasdis.2013.07.039.
Caceres JA, Adil MM, Jadhav V, Chaudhry SA, Pawar S, Rodriguez GJ, Suri MFK, Qureshi AI. Diagnosis of stroke by emergency medical dispatchers and its impact on the prehospital care of patients. J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis. 2013 Nov;22(8):e610–e614.
Journal cover image

Published In

J Stroke Cerebrovasc Dis

DOI

EISSN

1532-8511

Publication Date

November 2013

Volume

22

Issue

8

Start / End Page

e610 / e614

Location

United States

Related Subject Headings

  • Triage
  • Transportation of Patients
  • Time-to-Treatment
  • Time Factors
  • Stroke
  • Remote Consultation
  • Quality of Health Care
  • Predictive Value of Tests
  • Neurology & Neurosurgery
  • Middle Aged