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Background Cardiac arrest outside hospital is a catastrophic medical emergency experienced by an estimated 60 000 people a year in the UK. The speed and accuracy with which cardiac arrest outside hospital is recognised by 999 call handlers is fundamental to improving the chance of survival, but is extremely challenging. We aimed to identify how cardiac arrest is actually described by callers during dialogues with 999 call handlers. Methods Data was obtained from two acute NHS trusts and their two local ambulance trusts for all cases of suspected or actual out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) or imminent medically witnessed cardiac arrest (MWCA) which led to transfer to one of the study hospitals, for a one year period (1/7/2013–30/6/2014). The 999 call recordings were listened to in full; words or phrases used by callers to describe clinical signs and symptoms were identified and clustered into key indicator symptoms using a thematic approach. Findings 429 cases of cardiac arrest were identified, of which 246 (57.3%) were dispatched using a ‘cardiac arrest’ code. 6 callers (1.4%) used the term ‘cardiac arrest’ or a synonym. Key indicator symptoms reported most frequently were unconsciousness (64.8%), ineffective breathing (61.9%), and absent breathing (48.8%). Descriptors of conscious level included diverse colloquialisms and terms relating to reduced or fluctuating level of consciousness (17.2%). Descriptors of ineffective breathing included diverse terms relating to slow, fast, irregular, agonal, dyspnoea, and shallow breathing, plus nonspecific terms (e.g. ‘breathing’s funny); and ‘don’t know’ statements. Conclusion Callers’ descriptors of key symptoms of OHCA are varied and include many colloquialisms. Call handler training should include awareness of likely descriptions, particularly of ineffective breathing, which may be more commonly reported than absent breathing.

Background and Aims: Outcomes for stroke patients are improved by reducing time to, and increasing accessibility of, stroke-specialist consultation and treatments (e.g. delivery of thrombolysis). Telemedicine is a way that this can be facilitated, especially outside routine working hours. This study compared the timeliness of treatment and short-term patient outcomes when telemedicine or face-to-face assessment was used as part of the decision process of administering thrombolysis to patients affected by stroke. Method: Stroke data from SINAP and DASH databases between July 2011 and March 2013 was provided from six trusts in Lancashire and Cumbria which used telemedicine for the assessment of acute stroke, and eleven trusts within the North East of England which assessed patients face-to-face. Data was analysed from 220 stroke patients who received thrombolysis; this was restricted to those admitted out-of-hours as this was when telemedicine would normally be used. Results: The results showed that stroke patients assessed via telemedicine had a subsequent longer door-to needle time in comparison to those assessed via traditional face-to-face methods (95%CI: -32.43 to -11.15 minutes). Also, no significant differences were found between telemedicine and face-to-face assessments on patient outcomes such as length of stay in hospital (95%CI: -10.29 to 3.23 days), stay in stroke unit (95%CI: -10.42 to 3.01 days), rate of complications (OR 95%CI: 0.33 to 1.82) or discharge destination (OR 95%CI: 0.30 to 1.11). Conclusion: Patients assessed by telemedicine have a longer door-toneedle time than those assessed face-to-face. However, whether assessment was via telemedicine or face-to-face does not appear to affect short-term patient outcomes.

The mechanisms by which talking therapies exert their beneficial effects are largely unknown. In exploring the process of a talking therapy, motivational interviewing (MI), when used to treat and prevent low mood in stroke survivors, we developed, what we believe to be, a novel approach to analyzing transcripts. We illustrate the method using qualitative data from MI sessions with 10 stroke survivors. The approach, drawing on grounded theory, incorporated processes of parallel and serial memoing among a team of researchers to allow a process of validation. This enabled us to describe session content and to develop theoretical interpretations of what was occurring in and across MI sessions. We found that this process can be used to integrate different perspectives in theory building, allowing for a richer description and more robust theoretical interpretation. Others can use and adapt this approach to develop insights into their own inquiry.

Our earlier research demonstrated that participation in four sessions of motivational interviewing (MI) early post-stroke has a positive impact on stroke survivors' mood. However, the theoretical underpinnings of MI in supporting adjustment (rather than its traditional use in supporting behavior change) require clarification. This article describes a content analysis of MI transcripts for 10 participants in our previous study, to identify the focus of discussions (patient "concerns") and potential effective components of our MI approach. Patients' post-stroke concerns were shown in 16 categories, including frustration, family impact, and getting well. There was a pattern of change discourse across sessions: "Sustain talk" (reasons for not changing) reduced from Session 1 onward, "change talk" (intent to change) increased then reduced, and "change expressed" (changes achieved) increased from Sessions 1 to 4. MI facilitates healthy adjustment post-stroke in some patients, in turn affecting mood, but clarification of how this effect is achieved requires further exploration.

Introduction: Shortening the time to delivery of IV thrombolysis improves patient outcomes and reduces adverse events. This research aimed to explore patient and service delivery factors that increase or decrease DTN time for thrombolysis. Method: We conducted a Service Evaluation from July 2011 to March 2013, using stroke data from SINAP and DASH databases. Data was provided by 6 acute trusts in Lancashire and Cumbria which used telemedicine, and 11 stroke services within the North East of England which instead used face-to-face. Our investigation concentrates on admissions to hospital occurring out of routine working hours, when resources are particularly constrained. Descriptive and inferential analyses, focusing on multivariate Cox regressions models selected using a forward stepwise approach, were then carried out to determine which factors impacted on DTN time, our main outcome variable. Results: After testing alternative specifications, our final model included these potential risk factors: mode of thrombolysis decision-making (either face-to-face or telemedicine); hospital; age; sex. Our results show that DTN time was strongly influenced by patient’s age (p<0.01), with older people receiving thrombolysis more quickly. Among the statistically significant variables, type of hospital (p<0.001) appeared to affect DTN times, together with patient’s sex (p¼0.01), suggesting that males had shorter DTN times. Conclusion: Older age was associated with shorter DTN times, with this effect being independent of other factors. Therefore, our research suggests that age played a predominant role in the delivery of thrombolysis, rather than solely through the choice of assessing acute stroke through face-to-face or telemedicine.