Annals of emergency medicine
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The Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS) is a 3-item scale based on a simplification of the National Institutes of Health (NIH) Stroke Scale. When performed by a physician, it has a high sensitivity and specificity in identifying patients with stroke who are candidates for thrombolysis. The objective of this study was to validate and verify the reproducibility of the CPSS when used by prehospital providers. ⋯ The CPSS has excellent reproducibility among prehospital personnel and physicians. It has good validity in identifying patients with stroke who are candidates for thrombolytic therapy, especially those with anterior circulation stroke.
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To determine whether implementation of a set of standardized pediatric telephone triage protocols results in consistent triage dispositions when applied by different operators. ⋯ It may not simply be assumed that the use of protocols will standardize care. This is particularly important in the case of triage, with current trends toward medical decisionmaking by less skilled providers with diminishing patient contact. Although triage protocols may be useful to guide clinical thinking, their consistency must be validated before they may be safely disseminated for general use.