Cargando…

Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services in Italy: A 5-Years Population-Based Registry Analysis

Background: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) plays a fundamental role in providing good quality healthcare services to citizens, as they are the first responders in distressing situations. Few studies have used available EMS data to investigate EMS call characteristics and subsequent responses. Meth...

Descripción completa

Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores principales: Campagna, Sara, Conti, Alessio, Dimonte, Valerio, Dalmasso, Marco, Starnini, Michele, Gianino, Maria Michela, Borraccino, Alberto
Formato: Online Artículo Texto
Lenguaje:English
Publicado: MDPI 2020
Materias:
Acceso en línea:https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7763006/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33322302
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8040551
_version_ 1783627914692001792
author Campagna, Sara
Conti, Alessio
Dimonte, Valerio
Dalmasso, Marco
Starnini, Michele
Gianino, Maria Michela
Borraccino, Alberto
author_facet Campagna, Sara
Conti, Alessio
Dimonte, Valerio
Dalmasso, Marco
Starnini, Michele
Gianino, Maria Michela
Borraccino, Alberto
author_sort Campagna, Sara
collection PubMed
description Background: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) plays a fundamental role in providing good quality healthcare services to citizens, as they are the first responders in distressing situations. Few studies have used available EMS data to investigate EMS call characteristics and subsequent responses. Methods: Data were extracted from the emergency registry for the period 2013–2017. This included call and rescue vehicle dispatch information. All relationships in analyses and differences in events proportion between 2013 and 2017 were tested against the Pearson’s Chi-Square with a 99% level of confidence. Results: Among the 2,120,838 emergency calls, operators dispatched at least one rescue vehicle for 1,494,855. There was an estimated overall incidence of 96 emergency calls and 75 rescue vehicles dispatched per 1000 inhabitants per year. Most calls were made by private citizens, during the daytime, and were made from home (63.8%); 31% of rescue vehicle dispatches were advanced emergency medical vehicles. The highest number of rescue vehicle dispatches ended at the emergency department (74.7%). Conclusions: Our data showed that, with some exception due to environmental differences, the highest proportion of incoming emergency calls is not acute or urgent and could be more effectively managed in other settings than in an Emergency Departments (ED). Better management of dispatch can reduce crowding and save hospital emergency departments time, personnel, and health system costs.
format Online
Article
Text
id pubmed-7763006
institution National Center for Biotechnology Information
language English
publishDate 2020
publisher MDPI
record_format MEDLINE/PubMed
spelling pubmed-77630062020-12-27 Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services in Italy: A 5-Years Population-Based Registry Analysis Campagna, Sara Conti, Alessio Dimonte, Valerio Dalmasso, Marco Starnini, Michele Gianino, Maria Michela Borraccino, Alberto Healthcare (Basel) Article Background: Emergency Medical Services (EMS) plays a fundamental role in providing good quality healthcare services to citizens, as they are the first responders in distressing situations. Few studies have used available EMS data to investigate EMS call characteristics and subsequent responses. Methods: Data were extracted from the emergency registry for the period 2013–2017. This included call and rescue vehicle dispatch information. All relationships in analyses and differences in events proportion between 2013 and 2017 were tested against the Pearson’s Chi-Square with a 99% level of confidence. Results: Among the 2,120,838 emergency calls, operators dispatched at least one rescue vehicle for 1,494,855. There was an estimated overall incidence of 96 emergency calls and 75 rescue vehicles dispatched per 1000 inhabitants per year. Most calls were made by private citizens, during the daytime, and were made from home (63.8%); 31% of rescue vehicle dispatches were advanced emergency medical vehicles. The highest number of rescue vehicle dispatches ended at the emergency department (74.7%). Conclusions: Our data showed that, with some exception due to environmental differences, the highest proportion of incoming emergency calls is not acute or urgent and could be more effectively managed in other settings than in an Emergency Departments (ED). Better management of dispatch can reduce crowding and save hospital emergency departments time, personnel, and health system costs. MDPI 2020-12-11 /pmc/articles/PMC7763006/ /pubmed/33322302 http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8040551 Text en © 2020 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/).
spellingShingle Article
Campagna, Sara
Conti, Alessio
Dimonte, Valerio
Dalmasso, Marco
Starnini, Michele
Gianino, Maria Michela
Borraccino, Alberto
Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services in Italy: A 5-Years Population-Based Registry Analysis
title Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services in Italy: A 5-Years Population-Based Registry Analysis
title_full Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services in Italy: A 5-Years Population-Based Registry Analysis
title_fullStr Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services in Italy: A 5-Years Population-Based Registry Analysis
title_full_unstemmed Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services in Italy: A 5-Years Population-Based Registry Analysis
title_short Trends and Characteristics of Emergency Medical Services in Italy: A 5-Years Population-Based Registry Analysis
title_sort trends and characteristics of emergency medical services in italy: a 5-years population-based registry analysis
topic Article
url https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC7763006/
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/33322302
http://dx.doi.org/10.3390/healthcare8040551
work_keys_str_mv AT campagnasara trendsandcharacteristicsofemergencymedicalservicesinitalya5yearspopulationbasedregistryanalysis
AT contialessio trendsandcharacteristicsofemergencymedicalservicesinitalya5yearspopulationbasedregistryanalysis
AT dimontevalerio trendsandcharacteristicsofemergencymedicalservicesinitalya5yearspopulationbasedregistryanalysis
AT dalmassomarco trendsandcharacteristicsofemergencymedicalservicesinitalya5yearspopulationbasedregistryanalysis
AT starninimichele trendsandcharacteristicsofemergencymedicalservicesinitalya5yearspopulationbasedregistryanalysis
AT gianinomariamichela trendsandcharacteristicsofemergencymedicalservicesinitalya5yearspopulationbasedregistryanalysis
AT borraccinoalberto trendsandcharacteristicsofemergencymedicalservicesinitalya5yearspopulationbasedregistryanalysis