Which pair of stroke scales are used in NM's scope of practice?

• A. Cincinnati
• B. NIHSS
• C. Cincinnati and Los Angeles
• D. Los Angeles

Answer: (C)

In NM’s emergency medical practice, identifying a potential stroke in the field relies on quick, simple prehospital scales rather than the full hospital assessment. The pair used here is the Cincinnati Prehospital Stroke Scale and the Los Angeles Prehospital Stroke Scale. The Cincinnati scale checks three rapid signs—facial droop, arm drift, and speech abnormalities—and any abnormal finding flags possible stroke, prompting expedited transport to a stroke-appropriate facility. The Los Angeles scale builds on that approach with additional field-friendly criteria (such as age, time since onset, and a combination of objective neurological signs) to refine the likelihood of stroke during EMS evaluation. The NIHSS, by contrast, is a comprehensive in-hospital tool for measuring stroke severity and is not typically used in NM’s prehospital scope.