Volume 22, Issue 3 (6-2024)
Nursing and Midwifery Journal 2024, 22(3): 200-211 |
Back to browse issues page
Research code: 400000018
Ethics code: IR.KHOY.REC.1402.002
Download citation:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
BibTeX | RIS | EndNote | Medlars | ProCite | Reference Manager | RefWorks
Send citation to:
Soheili A, Motaarefi H, Sakhaei S, Mokhtari M. AMBULANCE RESPONSE TIMES AND CONTRIBUTING FACTORS IN THE PREHOSPITAL SYSTEM OF KHOY, IRAN (2023). Nursing and Midwifery Journal 2024; 22 (3) :200-211
URL: http://unmf.umsu.ac.ir/article-1-5164-en.html
URL: http://unmf.umsu.ac.ir/article-1-5164-en.html
1- Assistant Professor of Nursing, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran
2- Instructor of Nursing, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran
3- Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran (Corresponding Author) ,mokhtari_ma@khoyums.ac.ir
2- Instructor of Nursing, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran
3- Assistant Professor of Epidemiology, Khoy University of Medical Sciences, Khoy, Iran (Corresponding Author) ,
Abstract: (1261 Views)
Background & Aim: Prompt response times in the prehospital setting are crucial for improving patient outcomes, with longer delays demonstrably linked to poorer prognoses. Therefore, this study aimed to investigate ambulance response times and their contributing factors within the prehospital system in Khoy, Iran, in 2023.
Materials & Methods: A descriptive study with a retrospective chart review design was conducted on 53450 medical and trauma cases in both urban and rural areas of the Khoy prehospital system from March 21, 2023, to March 19, 2024. Data were collected using a standardized data extraction checklist developed by Dadashzadeh et al. (2016). SPSS statistical software version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and inferential tests were conducted, including independent-samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Sheffe's post hoc test.
Results: During the one-year study period, the Khoy prehospital system received 53,450 calls. Of these calls,, 70.3% were non-traumatic, 25% were traumatic, and 4.7% pertained to women's health issues. There were differences in ambulance response times between urban and rural settings. Urban missions had an average response time of 11.3 minutes, while rural missions averaged 12.7 minutes. The factors influencing response times were categorized into three main areas: (a) characteristics of dispatch staff, (b) characteristics of operational staff, and (c) characteristics of the incident.
Conclusion: Our analysis revealed that urban ambulance response times in the Khoy prehospital system exceeded the recommended standard, while rural missions were less the acceptable range. It is recommended to plan and take necessary action in order to modify the processes, policies and policies of the intra-city traffic coordination along with presenting the results of the research in the city traffic coordination council in order to access medical services on time and in the right place in emergency situations.
Materials & Methods: A descriptive study with a retrospective chart review design was conducted on 53450 medical and trauma cases in both urban and rural areas of the Khoy prehospital system from March 21, 2023, to March 19, 2024. Data were collected using a standardized data extraction checklist developed by Dadashzadeh et al. (2016). SPSS statistical software version 25 (IBM Corp., Armonk, NY, USA) was used for data analysis. Descriptive statistics were calculated, and inferential tests were conducted, including independent-samples t-tests, one-way analysis of variance (ANOVA), and Sheffe's post hoc test.
Results: During the one-year study period, the Khoy prehospital system received 53,450 calls. Of these calls,, 70.3% were non-traumatic, 25% were traumatic, and 4.7% pertained to women's health issues. There were differences in ambulance response times between urban and rural settings. Urban missions had an average response time of 11.3 minutes, while rural missions averaged 12.7 minutes. The factors influencing response times were categorized into three main areas: (a) characteristics of dispatch staff, (b) characteristics of operational staff, and (c) characteristics of the incident.
Conclusion: Our analysis revealed that urban ambulance response times in the Khoy prehospital system exceeded the recommended standard, while rural missions were less the acceptable range. It is recommended to plan and take necessary action in order to modify the processes, policies and policies of the intra-city traffic coordination along with presenting the results of the research in the city traffic coordination council in order to access medical services on time and in the right place in emergency situations.
References
1. Do YK, Foo K, Ng YY, Ong ME. A quantile regression analysis of ambulance response time. Prehosp Emerg Care 2013;17(2):170-6. DOI: 10.3109/10903127.2012.729127 [DOI:10.3109/10903127.2012.729127] [PMID]
2. Azami Aghdash S, Moosavi A, Gharaee H, Sadeghi G, Mousavi Isfahani H, Ghasemi Dastgerdi A, et al. Development of quality indicators to measure pre-hospital emergency medical services for road traffic injury. BMC Health Serv Res 2021;21(1):235. DOI: 10.1186/s12913-021-06238-1 [DOI:10.1186/s12913-021-06238-1] [PMID] []
3. Howard I, Cameron P, Wallis L, Castren M, Lindstrom V. Quality Indicators for Evaluating Prehospital Emergency Care: A Scoping Review. Prehosp Disaster Med 2018;33(1):43-52. DOI: 10.1017/S1049023X17007014 [DOI:10.1017/S1049023X17007014] [PMID]
4. Pap R, Lockwoodm C, Stephenson M, Simpson P. Indicators to measure prehospital care quality: a scoping review. JBI Database System Rev Implement Rep 2018;16(11):2192-223. DOI: 10.11124/JBISRIR-2017-003742 [DOI:10.11124/JBISRIR-2017-003742] [PMID]
5. Dadashzadeh A, Dehghannejhad J, Shams S, Sadegi H, Hassanzadeh F, Soheili A, et al. Situation of response and transport time in pre-hospital traumatic patients from scene to hospital in Tabriz - Iran. Nurs Midwifery J 2016;14(8):728-37. (Persian) [URL]
6. Wei Lam SS, Zhang ZC, Oh HC, Ng YY, Wah W, Hock Ong ME. Reducing ambulance response times using discrete event simulation. Prehosp Emerg Care 2014;18(2):207-16. DOI: 10.3109/10903127.2013.836266 [DOI:10.3109/10903127.2013.836266] [PMID]
7. Mahama MN, Kenu E, Bandoh DA, Zakariah AN. Emergency response time and pre-hospital trauma survival rate of the national ambulance service, Greater Accra (January - December 2014). BMC Emerg Med 2018;18(1):33. DOI: 10.1186/s12873-018-0184-3 [DOI:10.1186/s12873-018-0184-3] [PMID] []
8. Holmén J, Herlitz J, Ricksten SE, Strömsöe A, Hagberg E, Axelsson C, et al. Shortening Ambulance Response Time Increases Survival in Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest. J Am Heart Assoc 2020;9(21):e017048. DOI: 10.1161/JAHA.120.017048 [DOI:10.1161/JAHA.120.017048] [PMID] []
9. Howard I, Cameron P, Wallis L, Castrén M, Lindström V. Identifying quality indicators for prehospital emergency care services in the low to middle income setting: The South African perspective. Afr J Emerg Med 2019;9(4):185-9. DOI: 10.1016/j.afjem.2019.07.003 [DOI:10.1016/j.afjem.2019.07.003] [PMID] []
10. Feizollahzadeh H, Safa B, Rajaei R, Dadashzadeh A, Bari A. Assessment of Ambulance Response Time: A Study of Tabriz Emergency Medical Center, Tabriz City, Iran. Health Emerg Disasters Q 2022;7(13):135-44. DOI: 10.32598/hdq.7.3.416.1 [DOI:10.32598/hdq.7.3.416.1]
11. Gauss T, Ageron FX, Devaud ML, Debaty G, Travers S, Garrigue D, et al. Association of Prehospital Time to In-Hospital Trauma Mortality in a Physician-Staffed Emergency Medicine System. JAMA Surg 2019;154(12):1117-24. DOI: 10.1001/jamasurg.2019.3475 [DOI:10.1001/jamasurg.2019.3475] [PMID] []
12. Lam SS, Nguyen FN, Ng YY, Lee VP, Wong TH, Fook Chong SM, et al. Factors affecting the ambulance response times of trauma incidents in Singapore. Accid Anal Prev 2015;82:27-35. DOI: 10.1016/j.aap.2015.05.007 [DOI:10.1016/j.aap.2015.05.007] [PMID]
13. Cui ER, Beja Glasser A, Fernandez AR, Grover JM, Mann NC, Patel MD. Emergency Medical Services Time Intervals for Acute Chest Pain in the United States, 2015-2016. Prehosp Emerg Care 2020;24(4):557-65. DOI: 10.1080/10903127.2019.1676346 [DOI:10.1080/10903127.2019.1676346] [PMID]
14. Hosseini SMR, Maleki M, Gorji H, Khorasani Zavareh D, Roudbari M. Challenges to Use Response Time Standard in Assessing Emergency Medical Services in Iran: A Systematic Review. Arch Trauma Res 2017;6(4):55-62. DOI: 10.4103/atr.atr_29_17 [DOI:10.4103/atr.atr_29_17]
15. Chen XQ, Liu ZF, Zhong SK, Niu XT, Huang YX, Zhang LL. Factors Influencing the Emergency Medical Service Response Time for Cardiovascular Disease in Guangzhou, China. Curr Med Sci 2019;39(3):463-71. DOI: 10.1007/s11596-019-2061-z [DOI:10.1007/s11596-019-2061-z] [PMID]
16. Vassar M, Holzmann M. The retrospective chart review: important methodological considerations. J Educ Eval Health Prof 2013;10:12. DOI: 10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.12 [DOI:10.3352/jeehp.2013.10.12] [PMID] []
17. Piepho HP. Letters in mean comparisons: what they do and don't mean. Agronomy J 2018;110(2):431-4. DOI: 10.2134/agronj2017.10.0580 [DOI:10.2134/agronj2017.10.0580]
18. Bidary A, Abbasi S, Farsi D, Saeidi H, Mofidi M, Radmehr M, et al. Quality Assessment of Prehospital Care Service in Patients Transported to Hazrat-e- Rasoul Akram Hospital. Med J Tabriz University Med Sci 2007;29:43-6. (Persian) [URL]
19. Panahi F, Mousavi Naeeni SM, Azizabadi Farahani M, Assari S. Ambulance runs for pediatric trauma in Tehran. Iran J Surgery 2007;15(1):59-67. (Persian) [URL]
20. Bigdeli M, Khorasani-Zavareh D, Mohammadi R. Pre-hospital care time intervals among victims of road traffic injuries in Iran. A cross-sectional study. BMC Pub Health 2010;10(1):406. DOI: 10.1186/1471-2458-10-406 [DOI:10.1186/1471-2458-10-406] [PMID] []
21. Mohammadi M, Nasiripour AA, Fakhri M, Bakhtiari A, Azari S, Akbarzadeh A, et al. The Evaluation of Time Performance in the Emergency Response Center to Provide Pre-Hospital Emergency Services in Kermanshah. Glob J Health Sci 2014;7(1):274-9. DOI: 10.5539/gjhs.v7n1p274 [DOI:10.5539/gjhs.v7n1p274]
22. Moradian MJ, Rastegarfar B, Fooladband F. Time Indicators of Pre-hospital Emergency Services in Stroke Patients of Fars/ Iran. Health Based Res 2019;5(2):165-74. DOI: 10.22062/5.2.165 (Persian) [URL]
23. Farhat H, Makhlouf A, Gangaram P, Aifa KE, Khenissi MC, Howland I, et al. Exploring factors influencing time from dispatch to unit availability according to the transport decision in the pre-hospital setting: an exploratory study. BMC Emerg Med 2024;24(1):77. DOI: 10.1186/s12873-024-00992-1 [DOI:10.1186/s12873-024-00992-1] [PMID] []
24. Bahrami MA, Maleki A, Ranjbar Ezzatabadi M, Askari R, Ahmadi Tehrani GH. Pre-Hospital Emergency Medical Services in Developing Countries: A Case Study about EMS Response Time in Yazd, Iran. Iran Red Crescent Med J 2011;13(10):735-8. [PMC] [URL]
25. Naghavi M, Shahraz S, Bhalla K, Jafari N, Pourmalek F, Bartels D, et al. Adverse health outcomes of road traffic injuries in Iran after rapid motorization. Arch Iran Med 2009;12(3):284-94. [PMID: 19400607]
Send email to the article author
| Rights and permissions | |
 |
This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International License. |
Contact Information
Address: Urmia University of Medical Sciences, Deputy of Research and Technology,Djahad Ave.,
Urmia-5714783734, IRAN
P.O. Box: 1138,
Tel: 044 - 331937224
Fax: 044 - 32240642
E-Mail:
j.nur.mid
gmail.com, unmfumsu.ac.ir