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Emergency medical service systems in Sri Lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future
INTRODUCTION: The concept of emergency medical services (EMS) is new to Sri Lanka. This article describes the development, delivery, and future ideas for EMS in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka also faces frequent natural hazards that justify the establishment of an EMS service. METHODOLOGY: Data and informatio...
Autores principales: | , , , , , |
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Formato: | Online Artículo Texto |
Lenguaje: | English |
Publicado: |
Springer Berlin Heidelberg
2017
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Materias: | |
Acceso en línea: | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5319932/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28224347 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12245-017-0127-x |
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author | Wimalaratne, Kelum Lee, Jeong IL Lee, Kang Hyun Lee, Hee Young Lee, Jung Hun Kang, In Hye |
author_facet | Wimalaratne, Kelum Lee, Jeong IL Lee, Kang Hyun Lee, Hee Young Lee, Jung Hun Kang, In Hye |
author_sort | Wimalaratne, Kelum |
collection | PubMed |
description | INTRODUCTION: The concept of emergency medical services (EMS) is new to Sri Lanka. This article describes the development, delivery, and future ideas for EMS in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka also faces frequent natural hazards that justify the establishment of an EMS service. METHODOLOGY: Data and information regarding emergency medical care in Sri Lanka were collected and reviewed from resources including websites and research papers. RESULTS: Currently, there are no qualified emergency medical physicians in Sri Lanka. However, a specialist training program for emergency physicians was initiated in 2012. There is no formal system to train emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Sri Lankans usually use taxies or their private vehicles to get to the hospital in the case of an emergency. All of the hospitals have ambulances that they can use to transport patients between hospitals. Most hospitals have emergency treatment units. Those at larger hospitals tend to be better than those at smaller hospitals. Although there is a disaster management system, it is not focused on emergency medical needs. DISCUSSION: Many aspects of the EMS system in Sri Lanka need improvement. To start, the emergency telephone number should cover the entire country. Training programs for EMTs should be conducted regularly. In addition, ambulances should be allocated for prehospital care. In the process of these developmental changes, public awareness programs are essential to improve the function of the EMS system. CONCLUSION: Despite many current shortcomings, Sri Lanka is capable of developing a successful EMS system. |
format | Online Article Text |
id | pubmed-5319932 |
institution | National Center for Biotechnology Information |
language | English |
publishDate | 2017 |
publisher | Springer Berlin Heidelberg |
record_format | MEDLINE/PubMed |
spelling | pubmed-53199322017-03-07 Emergency medical service systems in Sri Lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future Wimalaratne, Kelum Lee, Jeong IL Lee, Kang Hyun Lee, Hee Young Lee, Jung Hun Kang, In Hye Int J Emerg Med State of International Emergency Medicine INTRODUCTION: The concept of emergency medical services (EMS) is new to Sri Lanka. This article describes the development, delivery, and future ideas for EMS in Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka also faces frequent natural hazards that justify the establishment of an EMS service. METHODOLOGY: Data and information regarding emergency medical care in Sri Lanka were collected and reviewed from resources including websites and research papers. RESULTS: Currently, there are no qualified emergency medical physicians in Sri Lanka. However, a specialist training program for emergency physicians was initiated in 2012. There is no formal system to train emergency medical technicians (EMTs). Sri Lankans usually use taxies or their private vehicles to get to the hospital in the case of an emergency. All of the hospitals have ambulances that they can use to transport patients between hospitals. Most hospitals have emergency treatment units. Those at larger hospitals tend to be better than those at smaller hospitals. Although there is a disaster management system, it is not focused on emergency medical needs. DISCUSSION: Many aspects of the EMS system in Sri Lanka need improvement. To start, the emergency telephone number should cover the entire country. Training programs for EMTs should be conducted regularly. In addition, ambulances should be allocated for prehospital care. In the process of these developmental changes, public awareness programs are essential to improve the function of the EMS system. CONCLUSION: Despite many current shortcomings, Sri Lanka is capable of developing a successful EMS system. Springer Berlin Heidelberg 2017-02-21 /pmc/articles/PMC5319932/ /pubmed/28224347 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12245-017-0127-x Text en © The Author(s). 2017 Open AccessThis article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/), which permits unrestricted use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided you give appropriate credit to the original author(s) and the source, provide a link to the Creative Commons license, and indicate if changes were made. |
spellingShingle | State of International Emergency Medicine Wimalaratne, Kelum Lee, Jeong IL Lee, Kang Hyun Lee, Hee Young Lee, Jung Hun Kang, In Hye Emergency medical service systems in Sri Lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future |
title | Emergency medical service systems in Sri Lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future |
title_full | Emergency medical service systems in Sri Lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future |
title_fullStr | Emergency medical service systems in Sri Lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future |
title_full_unstemmed | Emergency medical service systems in Sri Lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future |
title_short | Emergency medical service systems in Sri Lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future |
title_sort | emergency medical service systems in sri lanka: problems of the past, challenges of the future |
topic | State of International Emergency Medicine |
url | https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5319932/ https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/28224347 http://dx.doi.org/10.1186/s12245-017-0127-x |
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