Abstract P407: Stroke Dispatch, Provider Impression and Critical Pre-Hospital Time Intervals: NEMSIS, 2016

Abstract

Introduction: Stroke management guidelines have established several recommendations to ensure a proper response by Emergency Medical Services (EMS), including EMS arrival at the scene in ≤8 minutes (response time, RT), and an on-scene time (OST) of ≤15 minutes. Understanding factors associated with achieving these time intervals may help to focus EMS interventions. Hypothesis: We assessed the hypothesis that RT and OST for suspected patients with a dispatch of stroke are more likely to fall within guideline recommendations than those with a dispatch for non-stroke related events. Methods: Using the 2016 National Emergency Medical Services Information System (NEMSIS), a database of patient care reports resulting from 911 calls, we extracted cases with a primary or secondary provider impression of stroke, their EMS arrival to the scene (RT) ≤8 minutes and OST of ≤15 minutes. The sample included persons aged ≥18 years with non-missing sociodemographic data on sex, race/ethnicity, rurality and dispatch calls of events. The percentages of 911 cases, stroke events, and time intervals of interest were calculated. Chi-square tests was used to assess associations. Results: There were 153,730 events (1.4% of all 911 transports) with a primary or secondary provider impression of stroke. Within these events, 69.5% had a RT ≤8 minutes, and 49.2% had an OST ≤15 minutes: differences varied within all sociodemographic groups. A significant difference was found between those dispatched as stroke and those dispatched as other, with a greater proportion of dispatched strokes having both a RT ≤8 minutes (70.2% vs 68.8%) and OST ≤15 minutes (53.0% vs 45.6%). Conclusion: In conclusion, we found a significantly higher proportion of patients dispatched as stroke falling within the critical time intervals of response time and on-scene time. Future EMS stroke education should place more focus on dispatcher knowledge of stroke signs and symptoms, as an integral pre-hospital partner in improving the stroke system of care.