2009 Volume 31 Issue 1 Pages 1-9
The goal of stroke care is to minimize brain injury and maximize patient recovery. The Guidelines 2000 for Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation and Emergency Cardiovascular Care recommended the 7 "D's" of stroke management (Detection, Dispatch, Delivery, Door, Data, Decision, and Drug). In Japan, no algorithm has been established for acute stroke. Immediate Stroke Life Support (ISLS) provides a standard education as off-the-job training. It focuses on the initial out-of-hospital care, assessment at the emergency department and management of the patient with acute stroke. We directed 13 courses of ISLS and evaluated the results with a questionnaire. The subjects comprised 183 persons who attended the course. Based on the attendants' impression, the ISLS course was useful for understanding the "stroke chain of survival" and also for reaching a consensus among the emergency medical services, emergency experts and stroke experts. The ISLS course also proved useful for residents' education.
