[Basic and advanced life support units in Spain: analysis of the current situation].

BACKGROUND

To describe the type and number of emergency care ambulances integrated in the Emergency Medical System in the Spanish autonomous communities and to calculate their relationship with the assigned population.

MATERIAL AND METHODS

The official literature of the autonomous communities was reviewed, and the type and number of terrestrial care resources integrated in the Emergency Medical System and population data for 2011 were extracted. Secondary or specialized resources were excluded, and part-time units were computed in proportion to operational time.

RESULTS

A total of 319 Advanced Life Support Units (ALSU) and 1,109.05 Basic Life Support Units (BLSU) were identified, of which 31.9 are provided with nursing staff. The national rate of ambulances by absolute population was 0.86 ALSU (range 0.32 to 1.44) and 2.35 BLSU (range 0.07 to 5.30) per 100,000 inhabitants. The state rate by relative population was estimated at 0.29 (range 1.06 to 30.22) and 0.08 (range 0.94 to 16.03) inhabitants/km2 for ALSU and BLSU respectively, and the national rate by surface was 1,586.2 (range 140.8 to 4204.5) and 456.2 km2 (range 44.1 to 14599.6) for ALSU and BLSU respectively.

CONCLUSIONS

There are significant differences in the calculated rates of emergency care resources of autonomous regions over their population and area. No relation was found with the geodemographic idiosyncrasies of each territory. These differences could be caused by heterogeneity in the management of EMS or other factors not considered in this work.