Time indices of pre-hospital EMS missions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic: a cross-sectional study in Iran.
BMC Emerg Med
; 23(1): 9, 2023 01 28.
Article
in English
| MEDLINE | ID: covidwho-2224127
ABSTRACT
BACKGROUND:
The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in many changes in pre-hospital emergency medical services (EMS), including wearing full-body protective suits and well-fitted face masks, which can influence time indices in the course of service delivery. The present study aimed to compare the time indices of pre-hospital EMS missions before and during the COVID-19 pandemic in Iran.METHODS:
This descriptive cross-sectional study used census sampling to select 17,860 emergency calls that caused patient transfer to medical facilities from March 2018 to March 2021 and then examined the time indices of pre-hospital EMS missions during the COVID-19 pandemic. The data collection tool was a two-part checklist patients' individual characteristics and pre-hospital EMS mission time indices. The data were further analyzed using the SPSS16 and independent samples t-test.RESULTS:
Out of the patients transferred by the EMS, 11,773 cases (65.9%) were male and 6,087 (34.1%) were female. The most common reason for the emergency calls was accidents (28.0%). Moreover, response time (P < 0.001), on-scene time (P < 0.001), transfer time (P < 0.001), total run time (P < 0.001), and round trip time (P < 0.001) increased significantly during the COVID-19 pandemic.CONCLUSIONS:
We concluded that the EMS time indices elevated following the COVID-19 pandemic. Updating pre-hospital information management systems, ambulances and medical equipment, as well as holding training courses for pre-hospital EMS personnel could effectively enhance the time indices of pre-hospital EMS missions.Keywords
Full text:
Available
Collection:
International databases
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Emergency Medical Services
/
COVID-19
Type of study:
Observational study
/
Prognostic study
/
Randomized controlled trials
Limits:
Female
/
Humans
/
Male
Country/Region as subject:
Asia
Language:
English
Journal:
BMC Emerg Med
Journal subject:
Emergency Medicine
Year:
2023
Document Type:
Article
Affiliation country:
S12873-023-00780-3
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