Department of Health Services Management, Faculty of Public Health and Tropical Medicine, Jazan University, Jazan 82817 2820, Saudi Arabia.
Department of Health Services Research, CAPHRI School for Public Health and Primary Care, Maastricht University, 6229 GT Maastricht, The Netherlands.
Int J Environ Res Public Health. 2020 Oct 29;17(21):7944. doi: 10.3390/ijerph17217944.
The purpose of this study was to explore differences in characteristics of missions dispatched by Emergency Medical Services (EMS) between rural and urban areas of Riyadh province in Saudi Arabia (SA). It also aimed at identifying weaknesses related to utilization and Response Time (RT). The study retrospectively evaluated 146,639 completed missions in 2018 by measuring the utilization rate in rural and urban areas. The study shows there are six times more ambulance crews available for rural areas compared to urban. There were 22.1 missions per 1000 urban inhabitants and 11.2 missions per 1000 in rural areas. The median RT for high urgent trauma cases was 20.2 min in rural compared to 15.2 min in urban areas ( < 0.001). In urban areas, the median RT for high urgent medical cases was 16.1 min, while it was 15.2 min for high urgent trauma cases. Around 62.3% of emergency cases in urban and 56.5% in rural areas were responded to within 20.00 min. Women utilized EMS less frequently. The RT was increased in urban areas compared to previous studies. The RT in the central region of SA has been identified as equal, or less than 20.00 min in 62.4% of all emergency cases. To further improve adherence to the 20' target, reorganizing the lowest urgent cases in the rural areas seems necessary.
本研究旨在探讨沙特阿拉伯利雅得省农村和城市地区的紧急医疗服务（EMS）派遣任务特征的差异，并确定与利用和响应时间（RT）相关的弱点。该研究回顾性评估了 2018 年 146639 次完成的任务，通过测量农村和城市地区的利用率来进行评估。研究表明，与城市相比，农村地区的救护车人员配备多 6 倍。城市每 1000 名居民有 22.1 次任务，农村有 11.2 次任务。农村地区高紧急创伤病例的中位 RT 为 20.2 分钟，而城市地区为 15.2 分钟（<0.001）。在城市地区，高紧急医疗病例的中位 RT 为 16.1 分钟，而高紧急创伤病例的中位 RT 为 15.2 分钟。约 62.3%的城市紧急病例和 56.5%的农村紧急病例在 20.00 分钟内得到响应。女性使用 EMS 的频率较低。与之前的研究相比，城市地区的 RT 增加了。在沙特阿拉伯中部地区，所有紧急情况下有 62.4%的 RT 等于或小于 20.00 分钟。为了进一步提高对 20'目标的遵守，似乎有必要对农村地区的最低紧急病例进行重新组织。
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