Masterson Siobhán, Heffernan Eithne, Keegan Dylan, Clarke Bridget, Deasy Conor, O'Donnell Cathal, Crowley Philip, Breen Roisin, Kelly Maureen E, Murphy Andrew W
Discipline of General Practice, National University of Ireland, Galway, Galway, Ireland.
National Ambulance Service, Health Service Executive, Dublin, Ireland.
HRB Open Res. 2021 Jan 7;3:68. doi: 10.12688/hrbopenres.13149.2. eCollection 2020.
The National Ambulance Service (NAS) is at the forefront of Ireland's response to the COVID-19 pandemic. As directed in Ireland's National Action Plan, NAS significantly expanded prehospital services, including provision of a novel COVID-19 testing service. Additionally, other health services rely on NAS's capacity to assess, transport and/or treat COVID-19 patients. In a climate of innovation and adaptation, NAS needs to learn from international ambulance services and share experience. Evaluation of the NAS response to COVID-19 is required to facilitate evidence-based planning for subsequent waves or future pandemics, and to identify innovative practice for mainstreaming into routine service provision. This project aims to test the utility of novel information networks and develop a tool that is tailored to evaluating pandemic-imposed change in an emergency medical service. : The first aim will be to introduce and measure the impact of ambulance-specific research and information updates for NAS. Secondly, the usefulness to members of an international network of senior ambulance and research personnel ('AMBULANCE+COVID19' network), and the clarity and feasibility of a short-survey instrument, the Emergency Medical Services Five Question Survey (EMS-5QS), will be assessed. Finally, an evaluation framework for assessing pandemic-imposed change will be developed to enable NAS determine innovations: (1) for reactivation in another wave or new pandemic; (2) to be sustained as part of routine service. The framework will be developed in collaboration with NAS and the National Quality Improvement Team. The Research Team includes expertise from academia, ambulance services and the National Public Health Emergency Team. This project will facilitate the prompt introduction of information sharing processes to an emergency medical service and assess the impact of those processes. By developing a process for evaluating pandemic-imposed change in NAS, this project will add to the toolbox for future pandemic planning in emergency medical services internationally.
爱尔兰国家救护服务局（NAS）处于爱尔兰应对新冠疫情的前沿。按照爱尔兰国家行动计划的指示，NAS大幅扩大了院前服务，包括提供一项新型新冠病毒检测服务。此外，其他医疗服务依赖于NAS评估、转运和/或治疗新冠患者的能力。在创新与适应的环境下，NAS需要向国际救护服务机构学习并分享经验。需要对NAS应对新冠疫情的情况进行评估，以便为后续疫情浪潮或未来大流行进行循证规划，并确定可纳入常规服务的创新做法。本项目旨在测试新型信息网络的效用，并开发一种专门用于评估紧急医疗服务中疫情引发变化的工具。第一个目标是为NAS引入并衡量针对救护车的研究和信息更新的影响。其次，将评估国际高级救护和研究人员网络（“救护车+新冠19”网络）成员对其的有用性，以及简短调查问卷“紧急医疗服务五问题调查”（EMS-5QS）的清晰度和可行性。最后，将制定一个评估疫情引发变化的评估框架，以使NAS能够确定创新措施：（1）以便在另一波疫情或新的大流行中重新启用；（2）作为常规服务的一部分持续下去。该框架将与NAS和国家质量改进团队合作制定。研究团队包括来自学术界、救护服务机构和国家公共卫生应急小组的专业人员。本项目将推动向紧急医疗服务迅速引入信息共享流程，并评估这些流程的影响。通过制定评估NAS中疫情引发变化的流程，本项目将为国际紧急医疗服务未来大流行规划的工具箱增添内容。
