Missouri EMS Professionals Asked to Share Experience and Expertise in AHA Survey

To the American Heart Association, EMS professionals are a vital source of information for establishing a better system of stroke care nationwide.  A current critical need is for EMS professionals to share what they know about stroke care in their regions in a brief online survey.  More in a minute.

 

There are few EMS professionals who haven’t treated and cared for a stroke patient.  Many of us have also seen the effects of stroke amongst family members and friends.  Clearly, much progress has been made in recent years to treat stroke.  For instance, amazing stories of patients having massive strokes and going home just days later with no neuro deficits continue to come out of St. Luke’s Mid-America Brain and Stroke Institute.

 

But a tremendous amount of effort is still required to raise stroke awareness amongst communities, to pull together a unified system of pre-hospital care for patients and to establish uniform protocols for critical access hospitals for the assessment, treatment and transport of patients to specialty centers like St. Luke’s.

 

The American Heart Association (AHA) has for two years been leading an initiative to establish a comprehensive system of care for stroke patients.  The AHA actually spends approximately forty percent of its time, effort and money on fighting stroke through its second charitable organization, The American Stroke Association.  One of its biggest program endeavors is the Stroke System of Care initiative . 

 

According to an AHA/ASA policy statement published online in Stroke: Journal of the American Heart Association, the American Stroke Association’s Task Force on the Development of Stroke Systems is working to help communities play a major role in supporting a system of emergency care that ensures stroke patients get the best treatment as quickly as possible.

 

In a recent press release, the AHA stated, “after considering stroke care challenges of different types of emergency medical services systems (EMSS) across the country, the statement offers potential solutions, resources and performance measures to help communities build a transport, transfer and on-the-scene care structure that will improve emergency stroke care.”

 

View entire press release

 

As the ASA’s recommendations summary states:

 

As EMS professionals, the development of this system deserves our top-of-mind awareness and participation in order to collaboratively improve stroke survival rates and recovery across the state of Missouri.  MEMSA is proudly partnering with AHA/ASA to move the stroke system of care agenda forward.

 

Liz Deken, AHA State Health Alliance Director in St. Louis, Missouri, says the Stroke System of Care initiative was developed in 2005 and includes 26 measurable progress markers, five of which are specific to EMS and pre-hospital care.  What is most needed now, after two years of work, is an assessment of these progress markers.  Part of the system’s assessment effort includes directly involving the help of EMS professionals with a targeted survey.

 

Missouri EMS professionals are asked to share input in the simple 9 question online survey which focuses only on the EMS/pre-hospital progress markers.

 

 “Some EMS people have heard about this effort,” says Deken.  “Many have not, but regardless of awareness, EMS people should be able to effectively answer the survey questions for their region.  We greatly appreciate their involvement.”

 

Deken says the object is to NOT make stroke care a cookie cutter system.  EMS professionals who answer the survey have the opportunity to address their specific regions so that systems of care will be adapted to a given area’s needs, progress, etc.