Saturday, April 12, 2008

Give Me 5 For Stroke

Stroke is the #3 killer of Americans. However, with more prompt treatment, thousands of Americans may be saved or recover more fully, to return to normal life. Our goal is to reduce the deaths and disabilities due to stroke by ensuring that healthcare providers have the tools needed to quickly recognize and diagnose a stroke for treatment.In addition to the work the American Academy of Neurology, the American College of Emergency Physicians, and the American Heart Association/American Stroke Association are individually leading to advance stroke recognition and care, they formed The Stroke Collaborative to bring together emergency physicians and neurologists, leaders in the Acute Stroke Team, to ensure every hospital has the team and the resources available to provide the optimal care.

Why is the Stroke Collaborative Presenting a New Way to Remember the Warning Signs?

Other acronyms and devices are not inclusive of all stroke symptoms. All three organizations are members of the Brain Attack Coalition (BAC) and all support an education program focusing on the "Sudden" signs of a stroke. The "Suddens" campaign is inclusive of all the warning signs (captures 100 percent of stroke symptoms) but it may be difficult to remember for the average consumer. Why was "Give Me 5 for Stroke" Chosen? The Stroke Collaborative wanted to create a campaign and public message that is memorable and includes all the important stroke warning signs. They tested a new "Give Me Five" concept for communicating the warning signs of stroke to determine if it was more easily remembered among consumers than the standard "Suddens" warning signs. The results of the online survey of 1,000 people indicate that recall of all five warning signs with "Give Me Five" is nearly twice as high as the traditional warning signs. Twenty-one percent of those exposed recalled all five warning signs in some form versus 11 percent of those exposed to the traditional warning signs. A goal of this collaborative is reached with their website—giveme5forstroke.org-having a single landing site to access all three organizations' guidelines, practice resources and tools to allow quicker access to our collective stroke information.

AAN, ACEP and AHA/ASA are proud members of the Brain Attack Coalition and all work very closely with other representatives from the stroke team. They fully anticipate expanding this collaborative so they invite you to check their website "giveme5forstroke.org" for additional resources and materials to help you provide optimal stroke care.

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