Investigation of time indicators of prehospital emergency services in East Azarbaijan province in 2022 to 2024 and comparing them with the national standard

Abstract

Time indices are crucial in evaluating pre-hospital emergency performance, and continuous monitoring of these indices plays a significant role in improving emergency services. Despite their importance, a comprehensive review of emergency medicine literature reveals that similar studies in this area are limited. Therefore, this study was conducted to examine the time indices of pre-hospital emergency services in East Azerbaijan Province over a three-year period and to compare these indices with national standards. Methods: This research was a descriptive cross-sectional study. Out of all the calls that led to patient transfers to healthcare facilities during the study period, 1,407 calls were randomly selected by district. The required data were extracted from the 115 Emergency Electronic System, and the time criteria for pre-hospital emergency services were calculated. Quantitative data were described and reported using measures of central tendency. Results: The average time for receiving a mission in this study was 5.2 minutes, which is longer than the national standard of 4 minutes (P=0.001), indicating a need for improvement in initial response time. The average time for departure from the base was 2.8 minutes, exceeding the national standard of 2 minutes (P=0.001), suggesting delays in starting the response. The average time to reach the scene was 8.4 minutes, longer than the national standard of 7 minutes (P=0.011), which may be attributed to traffic issues or longer distances. Additionally, the average time to reach the hospital was 12.6 minutes, exceeding the national standard of 10 minutes (P=0.001), potentially due to traffic, weather conditions, or longer distances. The time to hand over the patient to the hospital was an average of 3.1 minutes, similar to the national standard of 3 minutes (P=0.020), and the average mission termination time was 3.7 minutes, close to the national standard of 4 minutes (P=0.015). Finally, the time to reach the area was 9.1 minutes, longer than the national standard of 8 minutes (P=0.015), which could be attributed to delays related to road conditions or traffic.