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(Stroke. 2007;38:2631.)
© 2007 American Heart Association, Inc.

Editorials

To FAST or Not to FAST?

Corinne S. Hodgson, MSc

From the CSH Associates, Inc, Burlington, ON, Canada.

Correspondence to Corinne S. Hodgson, 378 Melores Dr, Burlington, ON, Canada L7L 4T8. E-mail corinne@cshodgson.com

Key Words: mass media • prevention • psych & behavior • public education • public policy • stroke • warning signs

An extract of the first 250 words of the full text is provided, because this article has no abstract.

See related article, pages 2864–2868.

In this issue of Stroke, Kleindorfer and colleagues¹ report on a chart review comparing the traditional 5 "sudden" warning signs of stroke and the FAST system. FAST is based on the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale (CPSS) and focuses on 3 symptoms: facial droop (F), arm drift (A) and speech problems (S), with "T" for "time" rounding out the acronym. As Kleindorfer and colleagues point out, the standard list of 5 warning signs was created by a committee (the Brain Attack Coalition). Although it may be neurologically sound, Kleindorfer et al suspect it does not represent best practices when talking to the general public.

But what does make for effective public education messaging? If we look at the world of advertising, there appears to be 3 underlying principles for getting messages out to people—and ensuring they are remembered. They are: (1) consistency, (2) simplicity, and (3) repetition.

Consistency

Looking at public-oriented websites of some of the major English-language stroke organizations suggests that common messaging on the warning signs of stroke follows national boundaries. The American Stroke Association (ASA),² National Stroke Association (NSA)³ and National Institute of Neurological Disorders and Stroke (NINDS)⁴ all list the same 5 warning signs. The Heart and Stroke Foundation of Canada lists five,⁵ as does the Stroke Association of the UK (SA UK)⁶ but the wording differs not only from one another but from that used by the ASA, NSA and NINDS. The National Stroke Foundation (NSF) of Australia lists 6 . . . [Full Text of this Article]

Related Article:

Designing a Message for Public Education Regarding Stroke: Does FAST Capture Enough Stroke?

Dawn O. Kleindorfer, Rosie Miller, Charles J. Moomaw, Kathleen Alwell, Joseph P. Broderick, Jane Khoury, Daniel Woo, Matthew L. Flaherty, Tarek Zakaria, and Brett M. Kissela
Stroke 2007 38: 2864-2868. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF]

This article has been cited by other articles:

				R. F. Lyons, A. G. Rudd, and C. Alvaro Advances in Health Policy 2007 Stroke, February 1, 2008; 39(2): 264 - 267. [Full Text] [PDF]

				A. Chiti, E. Giorli, and G. Orlandi To FAST or Not to FAST: SHOUT-FAST! Stroke, February 1, 2008; 39(2): e22 - e23. [Full Text] [PDF]