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Pre-Hospital Fast Positive Cases Identified by DFB Ambulance Paramedics: Final Clinical Diagnosis
Irish Medical Journal
|September 30, 2016
Summary
Paramedics accurately identify suspected stroke using the Face-Arm-Speech-Test (FAST). This enables earlier treatment with intravenous thrombolysis for ischaemic stroke patients, improving clinical outcomes.
Area of Science:
- Neurology
- Emergency Medicine
- Public Health
Background:
- Earlier treatment with intravenous thrombolysis improves clinical outcomes for ischaemic stroke.
- The Mater University Hospital updated its acute stroke assessment pathway to reduce door-to-needle times.
Purpose of the Study:
- To evaluate the accuracy of the pre-hospital Face-Arm-Speech-Test (FAST) in identifying acute stroke.
- To assess the proportion of FAST-positive patients eligible for thrombolysis via the updated pathway.
Main Methods:
- Retrospective analysis of 177 consecutive FAST-positive patients presenting to the Emergency Department.
- Data collected from March to November 2014.
Main Results:
- Acute stroke was the final diagnosis in 57.1% of patients (n=101).
- Ischaemic stroke accounted for 76 of these cases, with 56.5% (n=43) receiving thrombolysis.
- The FAST test demonstrated reasonable accuracy for pre-hospital stroke identification by paramedics.
Conclusions:
- Ambulance Paramedics can effectively use the FAST test for pre-hospital acute stroke identification.
- A significant proportion of ischaemic stroke patients identified via this pathway are eligible for timely thrombolysis.
