An evaluation of the first national media campaign to increase stroke awareness in Ireland

Abstract

Background: Pre-hospital delay has been identified as a significant barrier to stroke care, with The Irish National Audit of Stroke Care reporting that only 5% of stroke patients present to an Emergency Department within three hours of symptom onset. Aim: The first national campaign in Ireland to increase stroke symptom awareness (FAST - Irish Heart Foundation) was launched in May 2010. This study is an evaluation of the effect of this campaign on presentations with stroke-like symptoms to the Accident and Emergency (A&E) Departments of two Dublin hospitals - Beaumont Hospital and Connolly Hospital. Method: An audit of all presentations to the two hospital A&E Departments with possible stroke or TIA related symptoms was conducted using a screening tool developed for this purpose. Evaluation of Wave 1 of the FAST campaign took place from March 1st 2010 to July 31st 2010, the FAST campaign taking place throughout three weeks of the month of May 2010. All case presentations to the two A&E Departments were reviewed. Cases pertaining to stroke and ambiguous cases were examined in detail. Results: There were 417 presentations with "stroke-like" symptoms in the 5-month period. There was an observable trend of increased frequency of FAST related presentations, decreased time from symptom onset to A&E attendance and increased admissions during the campaign wave. However these differences were not statistically significant (1chi2 = 5.54, p2 = 1.21, p2 = 5.83, p