| Staff at the hospital control center or GP office should suspect stroke when given the following statements: |
| Sudden onset of: |
paralysis (hemiplegia or hemilateral paralysis of an extremity, atraumatic tetraparesis, facial paralysis, mouth droop) visual impairment (e.g. double vision, hemilateral blindness, scotoma) speech disorders gait disorders for the first time sudden onset severe headache hemilateral sensory disturbances (numbness, paresthesia) acute vertigo, even though this symptom is ambiguous in combination with any of the other symptoms loss of vigilance (persistent or progressive) |
| Always ask: When was the last point in time the patient did not exhibit the new symptoms? (time given should be as exact aspossible) |
| Questions |
Answer |
How to proceed |
| 1: Is the patient awake? |
No |
Immediate ambulance service with emergency doctor |
| Yes |
Immediate ambulance service; whether or not an accompanying emergency physician is required is decided by the rescue service |
| 2: Occurence of acute paralysis? (arms, legs, mouth droop) |
If at least one question is answered with Yes: |
Immediate ambulance service; whether or not an accompanying emergency physician is required is decided by the rescue service |
| 3. Occurence of acute speech disorders? (muffled speech, slurring, garbled speech, word finding difficulty, patient does not understand other people) |
| 4. Occurence of acute visual impairment? (double vision, hemilateral blindness, scotoma) |
| 5. If headache: has it appeared for the first time and is it acute and severe? |
| 6. Hemi- or unilateral sensory disturbances (face, arm, leg) |
| 7. Acute vertigo? |
