Know Stroke FAST!
May is stroke awareness month. If you are among the millions of Americans who is not yet familiar with the symptoms of stroke here is a quick and easy way to remember what to do to recognize a stroke when it happens to someone you know. Just remember the word "FAST", as recommended by the National Stroke Association. Each one of the first three letters in FAST stands for a word which you can use to uncover a symptom of stroke. The last letter...well, read on. Here is what each letter stands for, and how it can help you get someone with a stroke the appropriate treatment, FAST:
- F=Face--ask the person to smile. If one side of the face appears crooked or drooping this person may be having a stroke
- A=Arms--ask the person to lift both of his or her arms in the air--if he or she has difficulty with one arm this too might be a sign that this person is having a stroke
- S=Speech--ask the person to speak. If his or her words are slurred or they are unable to speak, they might be having a stroke
- T=T is for time. If any of the above symptoms are present you must call 911 immediately in order to make sure that this person reaches the hospital FAST.
What's the rush? tPA is a potent treatment for stroke which can is not effective unless it is given within three hours of the onset of stroke symptoms. Most people who could benefit from this and other powerful treatments wait too long to call for help and end up missing the time window for treatment. Don't let this happen to you or your loved ones. Educate yourself and others about stroke before it strikes and be prepared to act FAST.
Comments
This is a pretty weak description about stroke awareness. I think a lot of EMTs and EMS still use this mnemonic, but it leaves out the other important symptoms like sudden, severe headaches or sudden vision loss. Then the talk about tPA is only good for one type of stroke, the one that is the result of a clot, not the hemmorhagic type.
Thanks for your comment.
Although I would not go all the way to call this effort “weak”, I agree that the mnemonic is incomplete. However, I think that FAST is very effective at addressing the main symptoms in a good 80% of all strokes.
Don’t forget that the main goal of the mnemonics meant for the general public is simplicity. And as such, FAST is very effective. Should it be used by emergency medical personnel to recognize strokes? No way.
In my humble opinion, EMTs should be trained properly to recognize headache as a symptom of stroke, and to understand that hemorrhagic strokes are not treated with tPA (and I believe they are trained for this in most places). After all their ability to recognize these symptoms and to understand their treatment is a great part of their job.