Study Compares Transport and Referral Strategies of International EMS Systems

Meeting Needs Redelsteiner C: Current and future requirements for gatekeeping in the prehospital setting with special consideration of sociodemographic requirements; with a special focus on two rural border regions in the Austrian province of Burgenland. Stumpf + Kossendey: Edewecht, Germany, 2016. [Book in German.] Many European countries face a reduction of active physicians and health professionals on one side and an increase of older people on the other. Although the ratio of emergency calls to population remains stable, the overall number of calls is rising. Background: Current data show that in urban areas, 75% of calls to patients under age 20 are minor disturbances that could be taken care of by self-help, general practitioners or outpatient care clinics. Furthermore, 94% of these patients are transported to hospitals for evaluation. In rural settings, 72% of calls for an ALS doctor unit are also non-emergent or could be covered by alternative resources. Prehospital EMS agencies are hence faced with a high volume of requests for "simple" social, nursing and medical interventions that could be served better by other health and social care providers. Methods: This was a mixed method research study. Quantitative data was researched by retrospective assessment of calls, demand patterns and call severity. Three different statistical prognostic techniques were used to calculate future call demand, combining historic data and demographic scenarios. Qualitativ...
Source: JEMS Operations - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Columns Operations Source Type: news