RESUMO
INTRODUCTION: Collegiate-based emergency medical systems (CBEMS) are a unique model for the delivery of prehospital care. The National Collegiate Emergency Medical Services Foundation (NCEMSF) was founded to serve as a resource for CBEMS groups. The purpose of this investigation is to describe the current state of CBEMS organizations. METHODS: The NCEMSF maintains a Web-based, data collection system to gather data on CBEMS organizations. Collegiate-based emergency medical services are defined as emergency medical services in a university or college campus setting. The abstracted data from the NCEMSF registry were analyzed using descriptive statistics. RESULTS: The NCEMSF registry contained data on 175 groups, and 145 groups were identified as providing CBEMS. The levels of service provided by the groups were: (1) first responder, 8.3%; (2) basic life support (BLS) 66.2%; (3) intermediate life support (ILS) 4.8%; (4) advanced life support (ALS), 9.7%; and (5) combination BLS/ALS, 8.3%. Transport capabilities were provided by 31.7% of the CBEMS. The average response time was estimated at 2.6 minutes (95% confidence interval (CI), 2.35-2.91 minutes). Early defibrillation using a automated external defibrillator (AED) or ALS was available by 75.9% (95% CI, 68.8-83.0) of CBEMS. Service to the community beyond the campus was provided by 21.3% of CBEMS groups. Forty-eight percent of the services operate 24 hours/day, seven days/week. The average call volume per year was 568 responses (95% CI, 315-820), and the groups averaged 29 (95% CI, 25-34) members. During the past five years, an average of 4.3 new CBEMS groups were formed per year. Eleven of the CBEMS are based at international schools.
