Can Medical Decision-making at the Scene by EMS Staff Reduce the Number of Unnecessary Ambulance Transportations, but Still Be Safe?

Conclusion We advocate a correct selection of patients discharged from the scene or left at home by EMS. Using a standardized protocol, which eliminates the bias made by different staff and physicians may safeguard this process 29. The results could be indicative for a prospective study and have an impact to improve the process and selection of the patients that should be transported to the hospital or can safely be discharged directly. Limitation One limitation of this study is the lack of a 30-day follow-up of the patients after being discharged at the scene and the lack of autopsy results. In both cases, the absence of registration and guidelines are evident. Moreover, the low number of the respondents (irrespective of the calls) during the follow-up renders the statistical analysis harder and the obtained results incomplete. Nevertheless, the results obtained are indicative and might lead to new guidelines and policy change, which will improve EMS activities in the future. Competing Interests The authors have declared that no competing interests exist. Correspondence Mahmoudreza Peyravi MD, Pre-hospital and Disaster Medicine Centre, Regionens HUS SE-40544, Gothenburg, Sweden, Sweden. E-mail: mahmoudreza.peyravi@gu.se
Source: PLOS Currents Disasters - Category: Global & Universal Authors: Source Type: research