Advice on stroke provided by pharmacies in the United States: implications for treatment and care.

Objectives: Studies have found that some health lines and physician's offices have provided treatment advice other than "call 9-1-1 for an ambulance" to patients who present with a stroke scenario. We assessed the treatment advice given by selected pharmacies in the United States regarding stroke.

Methods: The investigators called 73 randomly selected pharmacies and informed respondents that the caller's mother had experienced stroke-like symptoms several days earlier. Respondents were asked what should be done if the symptoms returned in the future and then debriefed on the deception afterward.

Results: Seventy-one of the 73 pharmacies participated and only 20% (95% confidence interval 12-30) of respondents gave the ideal advice "call 9-1-1 for an ambulance."

Conclusions: One out of every five pharmacy respondents across the United States recommended advice other than calling emergency medical services for a potential stroke scenario.