Analytical study of emergency medical service rescue time

摘要

Emergency medical service (EMS) in Saudi Arabia is managed by each hospital through the Saudi Red Crescent Society (SRCS). There are approximately 165 ambulance stations in the country, each with two ambulances. The SRCS collects data on EMS requests and ambulance arrival times at the accident scene. Each emergency incident has its own implications (accident, fire, injury, etc.) and must be dealt with individually. The aim of this study is to evaluate ambulance rescue time including response time in the city of Riyadh, the capital of Saudi Arabia, and to compare the response time in Riyadh with corresponding times in other countries. A sample of 874 emergency calls was collected during 1999. Ambulance rescue time consists of three components: response time, time at the scene, and travel time to the hospital. Data analysis showed that rescue time is, on average, 37.35 min (SD = 6.43 min). Within this time, the response time is 10.17 min (SD = 5.66 min). Other service components (e.g., ambulance service time at the accident scene and travel time to the hospital) are analyzed, and detailed statistics are given. Ambulance speeds average about 55.05 km/h (SD = 27.42 km/h. One primary finding is that there is a room to improve the rescue time in Riyadh to save more lives through the increase in the efficiency of the crew performance