Assessment of awareness and attitude of EMS personnel concerning pre-hospital stroke care based on American Stroke Association Guideline

Objective: Emergency medical services (EMS) is a critical component of health care system and the forefront of stroke care. The prominent role of EMS in stroke care is timely and accurate diagnosis of acute ischemic stroke and transfer of the patients to stroke centers. The present study aimed to assess the “awareness” and “attitude” of EMS personnel concerning prehospital stroke care based on American Stroke Association (ASA) guideline in Rasht town.Methods: This was an analytical cross-sectional study. The participants, consisted of all EMS personnel (n = ۱۱۵) in Rasht town in ۲۰۱۲, entered the study based on census method. Awareness and attitude of EMS personnel toward prehospital stroke care were assessed using a questionnaire based on ASA guideline. The questionnaire had two sections. The first part contained demographic data and the second part had multiple choice items (Likert-type scale response anchors) to assess awareness and attitude of the personnel. The questionnaires were filled out by the personnel. The collected data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential statistics using SPSS software version ۲۰. P-value less than ۵% was considered significant.Results: Ninety people participated in this study. The average of age and working experience of participants were ۳۶.۸۴ ± ۸.۰۲ and ۱۱.۳۶ ± ۵.۷۱, respectively. Most of the participants had bachelor degree (n = ۳۳, ۳۶.۷%) and majored in medical emergency (n = ۴۳, ۴۷.۸%). Most of them were contract employees (۴۷.۸%). Mean scores of awareness and attitude of the personnel were ۲۶.۶۸ (the total number of score = ۵۱) and ۳۲.۵۶ (the total number of score = ۸۰), respectively.Conclusion: Findings revealed poor awareness and attitude of EMS personnel toward prehospital stroke care based on ASA guideline in

کلیدواژه ها:

awareness ، Attitude ، Stroke ، Prehospital care