Impact of integrating out-of-hours services into Emergency Medical Services Copenhagen: a descriptive study of transformational years
- PMID: 36008756
- PMCID: PMC9414103
- DOI: 10.1186/s12245-022-00442-4
Impact of integrating out-of-hours services into Emergency Medical Services Copenhagen: a descriptive study of transformational years
Abstract
Background: Many emergency medical services and out-of-hours systems are facing an increasing demand for primary, ambulance, and secondary care services caused by population aging and a higher prevalence of long-term and complex conditions. In order to ensure safety and efficiency for future demands, many systems are changing their dispersed healthcare services towards a more integrated care system. Therefore, an evaluation of the production and performance over time of such a unified system is desirable.
Methods: This retrospective quantitative study was performed with dispatch and financial accounting data of Copenhagen Emergency Medical Services for the period 2010-2019. Copenhagen Emergency Medical Services operates both an emergency number and a medical helpline for out-of-hours services. The number of calls to the emergency number, the centralized out-of-hours medical helpline, the number of dispatches, and the annual expenditure of the system are described for both the periods before and after the major reforms. Production of the emergency number and the centralized medical helpline were analyzed separately.
Results: The average number of dispatches increased from 328 per 10,000 inhabitants in 2010 to 361 per 10,000 inhabitants in 2019. The newly initiated medical helpline received 533 calls per 10,000 inhabitants in its first year and 5 years later 548 calls per 10,000 inhabitants. A cost increase of 10% was observed in the first year after the reforms, but it decreased again to 8% in the following year.
Conclusions: There is a population demand for a centralized telephone access point for (semi-)emergency medical services. A more integrated EMS system is promising for a sustainable healthcare provision for a growing population with complex healthcare demands and multi-morbidities.
Keywords: Emergency medical services; Integrated care; Out-of-hours medical services; Telephone helpline.
© 2022. The Author(s).
Conflict of interest statement
The authors declare that they have no competing interests.
Figures
![Fig. 1](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/9414103/bin/12245_2022_442_Fig1_HTML.gif)
![Fig. 2](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/9414103/bin/12245_2022_442_Fig2_HTML.gif)
![Fig. 3](https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/instance/9414103/bin/12245_2022_442_Fig3_HTML.gif)
Similar articles
-
Strategies to Handle Increased Demand in the COVID-19 Crisis: A Coronavirus EMS Support Track and a Web-Based Self-Triage System.Prehosp Emerg Care. 2021 Jan-Feb;25(1):28-38. doi: 10.1080/10903127.2020.1817212. Epub 2020 Oct 9. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2021. PMID: 32870754
-
The Danish prehospital emergency healthcare system and research possibilities.Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2019 Nov 4;27(1):100. doi: 10.1186/s13049-019-0676-5. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2019. PMID: 31684982 Free PMC article. Review.
-
Satisfaction of 30 402 callers to a medical helpline of the Emergency Medical Services Copenhagen: a retrospective cohort study.BMJ Open. 2019 Oct 8;9(10):e029801. doi: 10.1136/bmjopen-2019-029801. BMJ Open. 2019. PMID: 31597649 Free PMC article.
-
Overview of the shenzhen emergency medical service call pattern.World J Emerg Med. 2012;3(4):251-6. doi: 10.5847/wjem.j.issn.1920-8642.2012.04.002. World J Emerg Med. 2012. PMID: 25215072 Free PMC article. Review.
-
[Helicopter-Mobile Medical Teams in The Netherlands: significant differences in deployment frequencies between different emergency room regions].Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2008 May 10;152(19):1106-12. Ned Tijdschr Geneeskd. 2008. PMID: 18552066 Dutch.
Cited by
-
A randomized controlled trial evaluating the effects of nurse-led triage of 911 calls.Nat Hum Behav. 2024 May 24. doi: 10.1038/s41562-024-01889-6. Online ahead of print. Nat Hum Behav. 2024. PMID: 38789524
-
A retrospective study on machine learning-assisted stroke recognition for medical helpline calls.NPJ Digit Med. 2023 Dec 19;6(1):235. doi: 10.1038/s41746-023-00980-y. NPJ Digit Med. 2023. PMID: 38114611 Free PMC article.
-
Is dispatcher-assisted cardiopulmonary resuscitation affected by a bystander's emotional stress state in out-of-hospital cardiac arrest?Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2023 Nov 17;31(1):82. doi: 10.1186/s13049-023-01117-6. Scand J Trauma Resusc Emerg Med. 2023. PMID: 37978562 Free PMC article.
-
Video Tutorials to Empower Caregivers of Ill Children and Reduce Health Care Utilization: A Randomized Clinical Trial.JAMA Netw Open. 2023 Oct 2;6(10):e2336836. doi: 10.1001/jamanetworkopen.2023.36836. JAMA Netw Open. 2023. PMID: 37824145 Free PMC article. Clinical Trial.
-
Recognition of visual symptoms in stroke: a challenge to patients, bystanders, and Emergency Medical Services.BMC Emerg Med. 2023 Aug 25;23(1):96. doi: 10.1186/s12873-023-00870-2. BMC Emerg Med. 2023. PMID: 37626329 Free PMC article.
References
-
- OECD . Primary Care in Denmark, OECD reviews of health systems. Paris: OECD Publishing; 2017.
LinkOut - more resources
Full Text Sources