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Are there any differences in medical emergency team interventions between rural and urban areas? A single‐centre cohort study
Author(s) -
Aftyka Anna,
Rybojad Beata,
RudnickaDrozak Ewa
Publication year - 2014
Publication title -
australian journal of rural health
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.48
H-Index - 49
eISSN - 1440-1584
pISSN - 1038-5282
DOI - 10.1111/ajr.12108
Subject(s) - psychological intervention , rural area , medicine , medical emergency , emergency medical services , intervention (counseling) , service (business) , emergency department , diversity (politics) , emergency medicine , family medicine , nursing , business , pathology , marketing , sociology , anthropology
Objective To compare interventions of medical emergency teams in urban and rural areas with particular emphasis on response time and on‐site medical rescue activities. Design A retrospective analysis of ambulance call reports from two emergency medical service substations: one in the city and the other in a rural area. Setting Two emergency medical service substations: one in the city and the other in a rural area. Participants Medical emergency teams. Results Interventions in the city were associated with a substantially shorter response time in comparison to rural areas. In the city, the distances were generally less than 10 km. In the rural area, however, such short distances accounted for only 7.2% of events, while 33.8% were over 30 km. Medical emergency teams more often acted exclusively on‐site or ceased any interventions in rural areas. Compared with the city, actions in the rural setting were associated with significantly increased use of cervical collars and decreased use of intravenous access. The presence of a physician in the team raised the probability of pharmacotherapy. Conclusion The relationship between medical emergency teams activities and the location of intervention shows the real diversity of the functioning of emergency medical service within a city and rural areas. Further research should aim to improve the generalisability of these findings.