ABSTRACT
Pre-hospital emergency medical services may have an effective role in the survival rate and prevention of serious injuries to patients and victims. On the other hand, increased length of stay can lead to an increase in hospital and patient costs while prolonging the recovery and rehabilitation time. This study aimed to investigate the relationship between pre-hospital care and hospital length stay in patients with acute myocardial infarction in Hazrate Rasool Hospital. The population of this retrospective analytical cohort study constituted the patients diagnosed with Acute Myocardial Infarction hospitalized at Hazrate Rasool Hospital in Tehran in 2009. These patients were diagnosed during the first six month of 2009 and were ultimately discharged alive. The sample was the same as the study population. Data analysis was done by means of SPSS version 16, non-parametric Mann-Whitney, and Kruskal-Wallis tests. The findings showed that 88% of the patients were transferred to the hospital with ambulance and had already received pre-hospital services. The average length of stay in the hospital was found to be 17.6 days [SD = 4.05]. There were no significant differences in length of stay for the two groups of patients; those taken to hospital by ambulance and those who were not. However, a significant difference was observed between patients with various age groups. Moreover, the length of stay in patients with different insurance coverage was statistically significant. [P 0.05] According to the findings, although the means of transportation of the patients as well as pre-hospital services seem to have no impact on the length of stay in hospital, they may, however, affect other consequences such as improvement in overall health of the patient, reduction of injuries, pain, etc. which may not lead to a reduction in hospital stay. It seems that in studies examining factors affecting length of stay in hospitals, researchers should have systemic and holistic views on these factors in order to obtain a realistic contribution of each factor in increasing or decreasing the length of stay