Comparison of the university hospital and county hospitals in western Sweden to identify potential weak links in the early chain of care for acute stroke: results of an observational study

Abstract

System delay is still long and only a small fraction of patients received thrombolysis. Three of four used the EMS (more frequent in the county). They were given the highest priority at the dispatch centre in half of the cases. Stroke was suspected in two-thirds of the cases, but a prenotification was seldom sent to the hospital.