How public ambulance arrivals impact on Emergency Department workload and resource use


Submitted: 17 February 2013
Accepted: 17 February 2013
Published: 13 March 2010
Abstract Views: 1115
PDF: 1881
Publisher's note
All claims expressed in this article are solely those of the authors and do not necessarily represent those of their affiliated organizations, or those of the publisher, the editors and the reviewers. Any product that may be evaluated in this article or claim that may be made by its manufacturer is not guaranteed or endorsed by the publisher.

Authors

  • Enrico Ferri Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, .
  • Laura Magrini Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, .
  • Marco Alfano Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, .
  • Michele Del Parco Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, .
  • Salvatore Di Somma Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy, .
Objectives: To examine patient’s characteristics associated with ED arrival mode, and to determine EMS impact on ED clinical resource use, workload and crowding. Methods: This is a retrospective study of patients seen at Sant’Andrea Hospital ED. Comparison focused on visit characteristics, and on resource use. Results: The use of EMS ambulance confirms association to older age, higher rate of hospital admission, longer length of stay, and severity of injury. Moreover our data show that ambulance referred patients are triaged into a higher acuity category and have a greater intensive care unit admission. Conclusion: Ambulance arrivals have a significant impact on ED resource use, workload and crowding.

Enrico Ferri, Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Laura Magrini, Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Marco Alfano, Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Michele Del Parco, Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Salvatore Di Somma, Department of Emergency Medicine, A.O. Sant’Andrea, La Sapienza University of Rome, Rome, Italy
Ferri, E., Magrini, L., Alfano, M., Del Parco, M., & Di Somma, S. (2010). How public ambulance arrivals impact on Emergency Department workload and resource use. Emergency Care Journal, 6(1), 23–33. https://doi.org/10.4081/ecj.2010.1.23

Downloads

Download data is not yet available.

Citations