THE POTENTIAL OF AN ANESTHESIOLOGIST-MANNED AMBULANCE SERVICE IN A RURAL URBAN DISTRICT/

The use of anaesthesiologists in prehospital emergency care is controv ersial. We wanted to assess the impact of an anaesthesiologist and a s hort time interval from acceptance of a mission to take-off at surviva l rates in a rural/urban emergency medical service. Prospectively regi stered data for 991 consecutive patients through a 12-month period wer e retrospectively evaluated by an independent foreign expert. Of all p rimary missions, 3.3% were considered probably lifesaving from site of injury to receiving hospital. Of these, the lifesaving result in 50% were dependent on both the qualifications of the anaesthesiologist and a short response time. Survival From hospital admission to discharge was 44%. All patients were discharged to their own homes, able to live a fully functional life. The consistent use of anaesthesiologists com pared-to less qualified personnel and the maintaining of response time s below presently required minima doubles the potential for lives save d in services comparable to the one studied.