Cantwell Kate, Morgans Amee, Smith Karen, Livingston Michael, Dietze Paul
Centre for Population Health, Burnet Institute, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Ambulance Victoria, Melbourne, Victoria, Australia.
Australas J Ageing. 2017 Sep;36(3):212-221. doi: 10.1111/ajag.12413. Epub 2017 May 7.
To describe the clinical presentation and temporal variation in ambulance service cases involving patients aged 65 years or older (older adults) from residential aged care facilities and those who are community dwelling (CD).
This study used four years of electronic case records from Ambulance Victoria in Melbourne, Australia. Trigonometric regression was used to analyse demand patterns.
Residential aged care facility cases included proportionally more falls and infection-related problems and fewer circulatory-related incidents than CD cases. Community dwelling demand patterns differed between weekdays and weekends and peaked late morning. Residential aged care facility cases peaked late morning, with a secondary peak early evening, but with no significant difference between days.
Older adult ambulance demand has distinct temporal patterns that differ by place of residence and are associated with different clinical presentations. These results provide a basis for informing ambulance planning and the identification of alternate health services.
描述涉及65岁及以上老年人（老年人）的救护车服务案例的临床表现和时间变化，这些老年人来自老年护理机构和社区居住者。
本研究使用了澳大利亚墨尔本维多利亚救护车服务中心四年的电子病例记录。采用三角回归分析需求模式。
与社区居住者案例相比，老年护理机构案例中跌倒和感染相关问题的比例更高，循环系统相关事件的比例更低。社区居住者的需求模式在工作日和周末有所不同，在上午晚些时候达到峰值。老年护理机构案例在上午晚些时候达到峰值，傍晚早期有第二个峰值，但不同日期之间没有显著差异。
老年救护车需求具有明显的时间模式，因居住地点而异，且与不同的临床表现相关。这些结果为指导救护车规划和确定替代医疗服务提供了依据。
