VEHICLE-AT-SCENE-TO-PATIENT-ACCESS INTERVAL MEASURED WITH COMPUTER-AIDED DISPATCH

Study objective: To determine whether the vehicle-at-scene-to-patient- access (VSPA) interval could be measured by means of crew reporting to a computer-aided dispatch operation. Design: A prospective demonstrat ion-proof-methodology pilot study using crew reporting of access time on emergency calls. Setting: An urban, public utility model (a type of EMS system), all-ALS system. Participants: Six ambulance crews (four day and two night). Interventions: Times were collected by radio repor ting. A survey was to be completed for each call. Results: Two hundred ninety-two calls met study criteria; 181 had corresponding surveys. C rew reporting compliance ranged from 52.8% to 94%. Poor radio transmis sion was cited infrequently as a reason for noncompliance. The median VSPA interval for all calls was 1.3 minutes (interquartile range,.8 to 2.6 minutes). Twenty-five percent of calls had intervals of more than 2.5 minutes, and 10% had an interval of more than 5 minutes. Conclusi on: Our study suggests that it is feasible for ambulance crews to repo rt patient access times. Methods to improve the consistency and freque ncy of crew reporting should be considered. The VSPA access interval v aries in length and is not normally distributed.