What are the challenges of using the ED as a site for initiating primary and secondary preventative services?
Enthusiasm to use the ED as a site for initiating primary and secondary preventative services must be tempered by the higher cost of providing care in this setting and performance pressures on the ED personnel to decrease length of stay, rates of patients who leave without treatment, overall wait times, and resource use. Additionally, to effectively initiate primary preventive strategies, ED personnel must know the risk factors for various diseases, in this case stroke; must understand the appropriate diagnostic evaluations and definitions for the risk factors; must be aware of recommendations for appropriate interventions; and must be able to arrange primary care follow-up to assess the effect of initiated preventive interventions.