Emergency Department, Faculty of Medicine, Bolu Abant Izzet Baysal University, Bolu, Turkey.
Emergency Department, Faculty of Medicine, Düzce University, Düzce, Turkey.
PLoS One. 2024 May 8;19(5):e0298933. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0298933. eCollection 2024.
Ambulance services around the world vary according to regional, cultural and socioeconomic conditions. Many countries apply different health policies locally. In Turkey, transportation from hospital to home has started to form an important part of ambulance services in recent years. The increase in the number of patients whose treatment has been completed and waiting to be referred may hinder the work of the emergency services. The aim of this study was to examine the costs, indications, and impact on workload of patients sent home by ambulance. Patients were divided into two groups according to the reasons for referral. The distance to home, transport time and cost were calculated according to the reasons for transport. Patients who were transferred to other clinics or hospitals by ambulance were excluded from the study. The findings showed that the hospital-to-home transfer rate during the study period was 11.4%. Although 9.7% of all cases transferred from our hospital to home were due to social indications, these cases accounted for 16.26% of the total costs. These results suggest that providing home transport services to selected patient groups for medical reasons should be seen as part of the treatment. However, the indications for home transport should not be exceeded and an additional burden should not be placed on the fragile health service.
全球各地的救护车服务根据地区、文化和社会经济条件而有所不同。许多国家在当地实施不同的卫生政策。在土耳其，近年来，从医院到家庭的转运已开始成为救护车服务的重要组成部分。完成治疗等待转介的患者人数增加，可能会影响急救服务的工作。本研究旨在检查通过救护车送回家的患者的成本、指征和对工作量的影响。根据转诊原因将患者分为两组。根据转运原因计算回家的距离、转运时间和成本。不将通过救护车转往其他诊所或医院的患者纳入研究。研究结果表明，在研究期间，医院到家庭的转诊率为 11.4%。尽管所有从我们医院转回家的病例中有 9.7%是出于社会指征，但这些病例占总费用的 16.26%。这些结果表明，应为有医疗指征的选定患者群体提供家庭转运服务，将其视为治疗的一部分。但是，不应超出家庭转运的指征，不应给脆弱的卫生服务带来额外负担。
