Callers' Descriptions of Stroke Symptoms during Emergency Calls in Victims Who Have Fallen or Been Found Lying Down: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Veronica Lindström; Mihaela Oana Romanitan; Annika Berglund; Ruxandra Angela Pirvulescu; Mia von Euler; Katarina Bohm

doi:10.3390/healthcare12040497

Callers' Descriptions of Stroke Symptoms during Emergency Calls in Victims Who Have Fallen or Been Found Lying Down: A Qualitative Content Analysis

Healthcare (Basel). 2024 Feb 19;12(4):497. doi: 10.3390/healthcare12040497.

Authors

Veronica Lindström^#^{1

2

3}, Mihaela Oana Romanitan^#^{4

5}, Annika Berglund⁶, Ruxandra Angela Pirvulescu⁷, Mia von Euler^{8

9}, Katarina Bohm^{5

10}

Affiliations

¹ Department of Nursing, Umeå University, 90187 Umeå, Sweden.
² Department of Health Promotion, Sophiahemmet University, 11486 Stockholm, Sweden.
³ The Ambulance Service, Region of Västerbotten, 90189 Umeå, Sweden.
⁴ Department of Internal Medicine, Södersjukhuset, 11883 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁵ Karolinska Institute's Stroke Research Network at Södersjukhuset, Department of Clinical Science and Education, 11883 Stockholm, Sweden.
⁶ Department of Clinical Neuroscience, Karolinska Institutet, 17177 Solna, Sweden.
⁷ Ophthalmology Department, University of Medicine and Pharmacy "Carol Davila", 020021 Bucharest, Romania.
⁸ Department of Neurology, Örebro University Hospital, 70185 Örebro, Sweden.
⁹ School of Medical Sciences, Örebro University, 70182 Örebro, Sweden.
¹⁰ Department of Emergency Medicine, Södersjukhuset, 11883 Stockholm, Sweden.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Early identification of stroke symptoms is essential. The rate of stroke identification by call-takers at emergency medical communication centres (EMCCs) varies, and patients who are found in a lying down position are often not identified as having an ongoing stroke.

Objectives: this study aimed to explore signs and symptoms of stroke in patients who had fallen or were found in a lying position.

Design: a retrospective exploratory qualitative study design was used.

Method: a total of 29 emergency calls to EMCCs regarding patients discharged with a stroke diagnosis from a large teaching hospital in Stockholm, Sweden, in January-June 2011, were analysed using qualitative content analysis.

Results: during the emergency calls, the callers described a sudden change in the patient's health status including signs such as the patient's loss of bodily control, the patient's perception of a change in sensory perception, and the callers' inability to communicate with the patient.

Conclusions: The callers' descriptions of stroke in a person found in a lying position are not always as described in assessment protocols describing the onset of a stroke. Instead, the symptom descriptions are much vaguer. Therefore, to increase identification of stroke during emergency calls, there is a need for an increased understanding of how callers describe stroke symptoms and communicate with the call-takers.

Keywords: content analysis; dispatch centre; emergency call; stroke.

Grants and funding

The third author had financial support from The Swedish Stroke Association (Stroke-Riksförbundet) and Södersjukhuset, the Department of Internal Medicine. This study is a part of the Fighting Stroke Project (Uppdrag Besegra Stroke), supported by the Swedish Heart and Lung Foundation and Karolinska Institutet; the project is supported by funding from Friends of Karolinska Institutet, USA, and Johanniterorden. Financial support was provided through the Centre for Gender Medicine at Karolinska Institutet and from the regional agreement on medical training and clinical research (ALF) between Stockholm County Council and Karolinska Institutet.