Awareness of Physicians about Stroke in Emergency Settings in the Al-Jouf Region, Saudi Arabia

Abstract

Stroke is the second leading cause of mortality and the third leading cause of disability after cancer and ischemic heart disease. Recognizing acute stroke symptoms and understanding its diagnosis and treatment is critical. To assess the level of awareness of Physicians about Stroke in emergency settings in the Al-Jouf Region, Saudi Arabia, and its relation to different socio-demographic factors. A cross-sectional study included 119 physicians from emergency departments in different Hospitals in Al-Jouf Region in Saudi Arabia in 2021. They were surveyed by using a validated selfadministered questionnaire. Participants were selected by using a convenient non-probability sampling technique. Data analysis was performed by using Statistical Package for Social Science. This study included 119 participants. Most of them were males and the mean age of respondents was 36.7 ±9 years (23 to 60). The mean awareness score was 17.8 ±SD 4.2 out of a total score of 28 points. Furthermore, our findings demonstrated that most physicians showed a poor level of awareness about stroke (75.6%) and only 24.4% of physicians revealed a good level of awareness about stroke in ER settings. There was no significant association between the level of awareness about stroke in ER settings and the socio-demographic characteristics of respondents. The majority of physicians in different hospitals in the Al-Jouf Region in Saudi Arabia showed a poor level of awareness about stroke in ER settings. Further investigation and exploration is needed; also more strategies and interventions are required to improve health workers' knowledge and awareness of stroke.This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution-Non Commercial-Share Alike 4.0 License, which allows others to remix, tweak, and build upon the work non commercially, as long as the author is credited and the new creations are licensed under the identical terms.