Ambulance crews failing to flag stroke arrivals

By Eleanor McDermid

Two studies from the Get With The Guidelines-Stroke initiative show that the emergency medical services (EMS) often fail to notify hospitals of an incoming stroke patient, despite the clear positive effect on acute stroke treatment.

Prenotification occurred for just two-thirds of the 371,988 patients in the studies, and the rate increased only slightly between 2003 and 2011, from 58.0% to 67.3%.

"Despite national guidelines recommending pre-notification by EMS for acute stroke patients, it's disappointing that there's been little improvement," said Gregg Fonarow (University of California, Los Angeles, USA), lead author of both studies, in a press statement.

"However, with these powerful new findings demonstrating substantial benefits with pre-notification, we have a tremendous opportunity to make positive changes in this component of stroke care."

After accounting for confounders, prenotification by the EMS resulted a significant 10.2% absolute increase in the proportion of patients who underwent imaging within 25 minutes of hospital arrival, a 3.3% increase in the proportion who underwent thrombolysis within 1 hour of arrival, and a 9.6% increase in the proportion who received thrombolysis within 3 hours of symptom onset (among those who arrived within 2 hours).

Prenotification by the EMS did not influence patients' risk for complications, show the findings in Circulation: Cardiovascular Quality and Outcomes.

The other study, published in the Journal of the American Heart Association, shows wide variation in EMS prenotification rates, with hospital-specific rates ranging from 0% to 100% and state-specific rates ranging from 19.7% in Washington, DC, to 93.4% in Montana.

"The large variations by state and hospital are really striking and should be a concern because the potential for ideal patient care isn't being met," said Fonarow.

The likelihood for EMS prenotification fell with increasing patient age and was reduced if patients were Black, had diabetes, previous vascular disease, or previous stroke.

"This tells us what we need to target EMS education," Fonarow said. "These patients are at higher risk for stroke and other ailments and may present challenges to EMS determining in the field whether their symptoms represent stroke. The goal is that EMS provides advanced notification for every potential stroke patient being transported."

The chances for EMS prenotification were also reduced if the receiving hospital had a very low annual thrombolysis rate (≤10/year) or was an academic center.

Licensed from medwireNews with permission from Springer Healthcare Ltd. ©Springer Healthcare Ltd. All rights reserved. Neither of these parties endorse or recommend any commercial products, services, or equipment.

Comments

  1. Zoe Myers Zoe Myers United States says:

    Eleanor:   I find your article quite interesting.   I am researching EMS treatment of hypoglycemia, throughout the US, and would be grateful if you could suggest data sources to help me determine when and where they are allowed to administer glucagon subcutaneously.   Thanks in advance.   Zoe

The opinions expressed here are the views of the writer and do not necessarily reflect the views and opinions of News Medical.
Post a new comment
Post

While we only use edited and approved content for Azthena answers, it may on occasions provide incorrect responses. Please confirm any data provided with the related suppliers or authors. We do not provide medical advice, if you search for medical information you must always consult a medical professional before acting on any information provided.

Your questions, but not your email details will be shared with OpenAI and retained for 30 days in accordance with their privacy principles.

Please do not ask questions that use sensitive or confidential information.

Read the full Terms & Conditions.

You might also like...
Heme oxygenase 1 and ferroptosis in Kupffer cells linked to heat stroke injury