ORAHS2024
Abstract Submission

133. Impact of the multi-trauma standard for ambulance services in The Netherlands

Contributed abstract in session HC-3: Emergency Medical Services, stream Regular talks.

Thursday, 14:00-15:30
Room: Room S2

Authors (first author is the speaker)

1. Geert-Jan Kommer
Dept for Public Health Forecasting, Dutch National Institute for Public Health and the Environment

Abstract

In the Netherlands, the standard is to treat at least 90% of the multi-trauma patients (ISS score 16+) in the ten level-1 hospitals. In most regions, in 2021, the number of multi-trauma patients presented at the level-1 hospitals was between 13-90%. For the ambulance services there are different reasons not to present a multi-trauma patient to a level-1 hospital. First, in some cases the severity of trauma cannot be determined on the scene: the RTS score used by the ambulance services does not match exactly with the ISS score used by hospitals. Second, the risk perception of the ambulance service plays a role. This is related to the extra time the ambulance needs to transport the patient to the level-1 hospital instead of the (nearby) level-2 or -3 hospital. In this study, we analyse multi-trauma incidents for the past five years estimate the business time of ambulances and the extra drive time needed to bring the patient to a level-1 hospital. We also make us of a simulation model in which incidents are Poisson-distributed and service time Gamma-distributed and simulate the business time. Finally, we determine whether extra ambulances are needed to meet both the standard for multi-trauma patients as well as the ambulance service levels.

Keywords

Status: accepted

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