Awareness of Ischemic Stroke among Physicians in Primary Care and Emergency Departments

Abstract

Objective: In particular, ischemic stroke is the primary cause of disability and loss of work force. With intravenous thrombolytic therapy and/or mechanical thrombectomy, stroke is a curable disease. In this study, we evaluated the ischemic stroke awareness of physicians who had first contact with stroke patients. Material and Methods: An online questionnaire of 20 items was applied to collect data. Participation was voluntary, resulting in 66 family physicians and 87 general practitioners. Results: 92.4% of family physicians and 90.8% of general practitioners responded correctly to the item that deals with ischemic stroke symptoms. In the item related to the duration of thrombolytic therapy, the rate of correct response of general practitioners was significantly higher than that of family physicians (p< 0.05). Physicians who worked in the profession for less than 5 years had a significantly higher rate of correct answers than those who worked in the profession for more than 5 years. Conclusion: Today, awareness of family physicians working in primary care and physicians working in emergency services who are in first contact with paralyzed patients should be increased. In addition, patient diagnosis and referral should be focused on. For this purpose, primary care physicians' knowledge on ischemic stroke should be increased. Training should be expanded to raise the awareness of physicians about new developments in stroke prevention, diagnosis and treatment.