Background: Direct teleconsultations between emergency medical services (EMS) crews and hospital-based stroke neurologists are mandated in the Czech Republic as triage and prenotification tool in acute stroke patients. The main aim of this study was to analyze the efficacy as well as quality of such teleconsultations in daily clinical practice. Methods: This is a descriptive analysis of teleconsultations between EMS paramedic crews and hospital-based neurologists in a geographically defined region of the Czech Republic (Moravian-Silesian region) between October 2018 to December 2018. All teleconsultations were analyzed for length and content. Content analysis included the following information: date, age, sex, prehospital neurological deficit(s), known/unknown time of symptom onset, anticoagulation status, vital signs, premorbid disability, and patient ID/insurance company number. Results: Within the study period, paramedics conducted 522 calls across 6 stroke centers. Of these, 334 (64%) calls were conducted because patients met pre-established prehospital criteria for suspected acute stroke. Median call duration was 1 min 44 s ± 56 s (minimum 50 s, maximum 5 min 5 s). Amongst the analyzed prehospital teleconsultations, stroke onset time was reported in 95% of cases, neurological deficit in 96%, significant co-morbidities in 53%, premorbid disability in 37%, and anticoagulation status in 53%. Conclusion: Teleconsultations between paramedics and hospital-based neurologists are not time-consuming. Stroke onset time and severity of neurological deficit are consistently communicated, however other important information such as comorbidities, premorbid disability, and anticoagulation status are reported inconsistently.

1st Faculty of Medicine Charles University Prague Prague Czechia

Czech National Centre for Evidence Based Healthcare and Knowledge Translation Institute of Biostatistics and Analyses Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno Czechia

Department of Community Health Sciences Cumming School of Medicine University of Calgary Calgary AB Canada

Department of Neurology Faculty of Medicine St Anne's University Hospital Masaryk University Brno Czechia

Department of Neurology University Hospital Ostrava Ostrava Czechia

Departments of Clinical Neurosciences Calgary Stroke Program Cumming School of Medicine and Hotchkiss Brain Institute University of Calgary Calgary AB Canada

Emergency Medical Service of Moravian Silesian Region Ostrava Czechia

Faculty of Medicine Masaryk University Brno Czechia

Faculty of Medicine Ostrava University Ostrava Czechia

International Clinical Research Centre Stroke Research Program St Anne's University Hospital Brno Czechia

Jessenius Faculty of Medicine in Martin Commenius University in Bratislava Bratislava Slovakia

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