EVALUATION OF THE AWARENESS AND KNOWLEDGE OF PRE-HOSPITAL EMERGENCY CARE PROVIDERS ABOUT THE ACUTE STROKE AND TRANSFER OF PATIENTS TO REFERRAL CENTER FOR STROKE

Arash Forouzan, Alireza Rafati Navaei*, Shahyar Mirkheshti, Samaneh Tabatabaei

Emergency Medicine Department, Ahvaz Jundishapur University of Medical Sciences, Ahvaz, Iran

ABSTRACT

The current study aimed at determining the knowledge level of Pre-hospital emergency care providers about the symptoms of acute stroke and transfer of patients to Ahvaz Golestan Hospital, as a referral center for stroke in Southwest Iran. The current descriptive-analytical study was performed on 144 Pre-hospital emergency care providers of Ahvaz selected using convenience random sampling from April 2018 to March 2019. Required information was collected by a 17-item researcher-made questionnaire. According to the mean score of each domain, the highest and lowest knowledge levels of the participants were in facilities required for the timely transfer of patients with stroke and stroke certified centers, respectively. Also, the overall knowledge of Pre-hospital emergency care providers was at desirable level (mean±SD= 68.35±13.38). The knowledge level of Pre-hospital emergency care providers in the five studied domains was above 65% (mean±SD= 68.35±13.38). Therefore, it is recommended to promote the quality of Pre-hospital emergency care via applying of appropriate training programs and benefiting from trained mentors to modify incorrect methods and improve the quality of Pre-hospital emergency services by performing demonstrations and practical exercise

Keywords:

Awareness, Pre-hospital Emergency, Acute Stroke, Patient Transport