EMS CHARACTERISTICS IN AN ASIAN METROPOLIS

A prospective citywide cohort study was conducted from August 1, 1993, through May 31, 1994 to analyze the epidemiological characteristics o f emergency medical services (EMS) in an Asian city, Of 5,459 studied cases, the leading 3 causes were trauma (49.7%), alcohol intoxication (8.6%), and altered mental status (AMS) (6.9%). Half of the studied ca ses needed no prehospital care and 16.4% needed advanced life support (ALS) care. Traffic accidents accounted for 68% of trauma cases. Of 89 7 cases requiring ALS care, the two most common causes were AMS and de ad on arrival (DOA) (32.1% and 21.2% in medical group, 10.1% and 4.5% in trauma group, respectively), The response time, time on scene, and transportation time were 4.6, 4.3, and 9.4 minutes, respectively. This Oriental EMS system experienced very short prehospital times, many tr affic accidents, and extremely few DOA cases, Because few patients req uired ALS care, an emergency medical technician-based EMS system would probably be able to handle the majority of prehospital patients. (C) 1996 by W.B. Saunders Company