IS AMBULANCE TRANSPORT TIME WITH LIGHTS AND SIREN FASTER THAN THAT WITHOUT

Study objective: To determine whether ambulance transport time from th e scene to the emergency department is faster with warning lights and siren than that without. Design: In a convenience sample, transport ti mes and routes of ambulances using lights and sirens were recorded by an observer. The time also was recorded by a paramedic who drove an am bulance without lights and siren over identical routes during simulate d transports at the same time of day and on the same day of the week a s the corresponding lights-and-siren transport. Setting: An emergency medical service system in a city with a population of 46,000. Particip ants: Emergency medical technicians and paramedics. Results: Fifty tra nsport times with lights and siren averaged 43.5 seconds faster than t he transport times without lights and siren [t=4.21, P=.0001]. Conclus ion: In this setting, the 43.5-second mean time savings does not warra nt the use of lights and siren during ambulance transport, except in r are situations or clinical circumstances.