[Comparison of two screening scales used by 120 dispatchers for early identification of pre-hospital stroke patients and telephone guidance for treatment].

Objective: To observe the effect of two different screening scales used by 120 dispatchers to early identify stroke patients and give telephone guidance for treatment.

Methods: From October 2018 to August 2019, 2 027 stroke and suspect stroke patients who called the Kaifeng 120 Emergency Center were enrolled. The differences in the final positive rate of stroke diagnosis and the incidence of adverse events were compared and analyzed in 1 020 cases using recognition of stroke in the emergency room (ROSIER) and 1 007 cases using facial drooping, arm weakness, speech difficulties and time (FAST) scale scores for telephone guidance.

Results: The positive rate of stroke identification in ROSIER score group was higher than that in FAST score group [31.4% (320/1 020) vs. 29.3% (295/1 007)], the false report rate was significantly lower than that in FAST score group [14.9% (152/1 020) vs. 18.8% (189/1 007), P < 0.05], the incidence of adverse events caused by vomiting, falling from bed and convulsions in ROSIER score group were lower than those in FAST score group [0.5% (1/208) vs. 2.2% (4/185), 0% (0/26) vs. 20.0% (2/10), 2.1% (1/48) vs. 10.3% (3/29)], however, the incidence of adverse events caused by falling out of bed was significantly lower (P < 0.05). The incidence of total adverse events in ROSIER score group was significantly lower than that in FAST score group [0.7% (2/305) vs. 3.8% (9/235), P < 0.05]. The time of FAST score group was shorter than that of ROSIER score group (minutes: 1.2±0.2 vs. 2.5±0.3), but the difference was not statistically significant (P > 0.05).

Conclusions: Two different scales can be used to early identify stroke patients and provide timely pre-hospital guidance, thus reduce the incidence of adverse events. Although the ROSIER score takes longer time, the dispatchers guide the patients by phone which does not affect the dispatch time.