78 Impact of additional call triage time on ems response performance and resource use. (16th April 2018)
- Record Type:
- Journal Article
- Title:
- 78 Impact of additional call triage time on ems response performance and resource use. (16th April 2018)
- Main Title:
- 78 Impact of additional call triage time on ems response performance and resource use
- Authors:
- Turner, J
Jacques, R - Abstract:
- Abstract : Aim: Time based standards have been used as a key performance measure for EMS internationally but can lead to operational behaviours that are not clinically focussed. NHS England tested a new operational model (Dispatch on Disposition) allowing additional call triage time of up to 4 min before starting the response interval clock start. Method: A controlled before and after time series analysis of the intervention implemented in 6 of the 10 regional EMS services. We measured weekly trends in average resource allocation per call and a range of time measures for different call types for 1 year before and 7 months after implementation, and used time series regression models to compare changes between intervention and control sites adjusted for seasonality, call volumes and hours lost at hospital handover. Results: The proportion of emergency calls responded to within 8 min increased by 6.6% in the intervention group. The 95th percentile time from call connecting to EMS and a resource arriving on scene reduced by 9.45 and 166.6 s for life-threatening and emergency calls respectively. There was a statistically significant reduction in average resources allocated per incident of −0.1 for life-threatening calls, −0.06 for emergency and −0.12 for urgent in the intervention group – equivalent to an additional 10 243 whole resources available to respond per week in England. There was no change in service re-contact. Conclusion: Additional call triage time does not lead to aAbstract : Aim: Time based standards have been used as a key performance measure for EMS internationally but can lead to operational behaviours that are not clinically focussed. NHS England tested a new operational model (Dispatch on Disposition) allowing additional call triage time of up to 4 min before starting the response interval clock start. Method: A controlled before and after time series analysis of the intervention implemented in 6 of the 10 regional EMS services. We measured weekly trends in average resource allocation per call and a range of time measures for different call types for 1 year before and 7 months after implementation, and used time series regression models to compare changes between intervention and control sites adjusted for seasonality, call volumes and hours lost at hospital handover. Results: The proportion of emergency calls responded to within 8 min increased by 6.6% in the intervention group. The 95th percentile time from call connecting to EMS and a resource arriving on scene reduced by 9.45 and 166.6 s for life-threatening and emergency calls respectively. There was a statistically significant reduction in average resources allocated per incident of −0.1 for life-threatening calls, −0.06 for emergency and −0.12 for urgent in the intervention group – equivalent to an additional 10 243 whole resources available to respond per week in England. There was no change in service re-contact. Conclusion: Additional call triage time does not lead to a reduction in response time performance, improves efficiency of resource use and is safe for patients. Conflict of interest: None Funding: NHS England. … (more)
- Is Part Of:
- BMJ open. Volume 8:Supplement 1(2018)
- Journal:
- BMJ open
- Issue:
- Volume 8:Supplement 1(2018)
- Issue Display:
- Volume 8, Issue 1 (2018)
- Year:
- 2018
- Volume:
- 8
- Issue:
- 1
- Issue Sort Value:
- 2018-0008-0001-0000
- Page Start:
- A29
- Page End:
- A30
- Publication Date:
- 2018-04-16
- Subjects:
- Medicine -- Research -- Periodicals
610.72 - Journal URLs:
- http://www.bmj.com/archive ↗
http://bmjopen.bmj.com/ ↗ - DOI:
- 10.1136/bmjopen-2018-EMS.78 ↗
- Languages:
- English
- ISSNs:
- 2044-6055
- Deposit Type:
- Legaldeposit
- View Content:
- Available online (eLD content is only available in our Reading Rooms) ↗
- Physical Locations:
- British Library DSC - BLDSS-3PM
British Library HMNTS - ELD Digital store - Ingest File:
- 18483.xml