Perception and Attitude towards Stroke by Professionals of Emergency Medical Service in an Urban City in Southeastern Brazil

Introduction Stroke awareness by lay people in general is poor. It has been estimated that only as much as one third of patients with acute stroke reach emergency medical services within two hours of onset of their symptoms. We aimed to assess perception of and attitude towards a person with an acute stroke by professionals working in mobile unit of emergency medical service in the city of Campinas, Brazil. Material and Methods The study was conducted during VII Stroke Workshop of Campinas in November 2007. We used an anonymous self-report questionnaire with a clinical case of an acute stroke with duration of 50 minutes. We asked two open-ended questions to gauge perception and attitude. Results One-hundred forty-nine of 205 (73%) participants answered the questionnaire; 49% were women, average age of 37 years (range 21–59). Ninety (60%) were professionals allied to medicine (nurses, health auxiliary, dentists), six (4%) were physicians, and 53 (36%) were other professionals (secretary, driver). In regard to perception, 142 of 149 (95%) had a correct perception of stroke. In regard to attitude, in general, the basic support measures have been pointed out, but only one (0.5%) mentioned an issue of time less than 3 hours for thrombolysis, four (2%) mentioned the possibility of thrombolysis, and 12 (8%) requested computed tomographic examination. Discussion It appears that professionals allied to medicine can diagnosis stroke of anterior circulation; however, they do not have thrombolytic therapy in mind, and this should be considered the default treatment for all patients with stroke within the “therapeutic window.”