How the COVID-19 Epidemic Affected Prehospital Emergency Medical Services in Tehran, Iran

Introduction: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has substantially impacted the healthcare delivery system in Tehran, Iran. The country ’s first confirmed positive test for severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus-2 (SARS-CoV-2) was on February 18, 2020. Since then, the number of cases has steadily increased in Iran and worldwide. Emergency medical services (EMS) quickly adapted its operations to accommodate a greater number of patients, and it worked to decrease the risk of COVID-19 spread among EMS personnel, given the disease’s high transmissibility.Methods: We evaluated the chief complaint as well as the pattern and number of EMS calls and dispatches during the 28-day intervals before and after the February 18, 2020, COVID-19 outbreak in Iran.Results: EMS calls increased from 355,241 in the pre-outbreak period to 1,589,346 in the post-outbreak period, a 347% increase (p<0.001). EMS dispatches rose...
Source: Western Journal of Emergency Medicine - Category: Emergency Medicine Source Type: research