Discussion of the Emergency Medical Transportation Problem with a View Towards a Systematic Planning Process.

摘要

Problems associated with emergency medical transportation are discussed and a framework for planning emergency medical transportation systems is presented in a report prepared in conjunction with a study of the feasibility of using helicopters for emergency transportation in West Virginia. The objectives, constraints, and organizations relevant to planning medical transportation in a predominantly rural State are examined in a systems context. A statement of system objectives is followed by an analysis of the factors that can restrict accomplishment of those objectives, including physical, legal, administrative, distributional, financial, political, and social constraints. A number of ambulance system organizations are described to provide basic information about the operational characteristics of organizational alternatives. Included are descriptions of ambulance services operated by morticians, by commercial purveyors, by police or fire departments, by volunteer organizations, and by hospitals. A system of program management for emergency medical transportation is described that takes into account the diversity of objectives, constraints, and organizational alternatives with which planners and providers must contend. The program management approach described makes it possible to take advantage of existing resources to meet areawide emergency medical transportation needs.