Transportation of patines from the offices

• Main Authors: Ranđelović Simona N., Živanović Slavoljub R.
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Serbian Medical Society, Department of Emergency Medicine, Belgrade 2019-01-01
• Series: ABC: časopis urgentne medicine
• Subjects: primary health care; emergency medical service; out of hospital; transfer to hospital
• Online Access: https://scindeks-clanci.ceon.rs/data/pdf/1451-1053/2019/1451-10531902008R.pdf

Introduction: City Institute for Emergency Medicine Belgrade provides 24 hours a day health care for citizens, both in the fieldwork and inside its offices of the Central building. Critical patients that cannot be treated completely in these facilities and patients that require further diagnostic procedures and observation are being transferred to the hospital or clinical center on duty. For those patients who require medical attention and supervision during transportation, medical escort is provided. That means that a team, consisted of a medical technician (nurse) and a driver, or a medical technician (nurse) and a doctor, is escorting a patient inside the ambulance vehicle. Object: of our research was to show how many patients are transported from the CIEMB, under which diagnosis, at what time of day, and with or without medical escort. Methodology: Retrospective analysis of a sample counting 6793 patients was conducted. Patients included were examined by a single physician inside the main office building during a period of two years, from December 31, 2015 to December 31, 2017. Results: 154 or 2,3% of a total number of examined patients were transferred to a higher level medical facility. Younger patients more often, during the day, with equal presentation of males and females. The most frequent diagnoses that required transportation were acute myocardial infarction, supraventricular tachycardia, angina pectoris, chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, cardiac functional abnormalities and injuries. Almost 80% of all transferred patients needed medical escort with a doctor present, and 20% were escorted with only medical technician inside the vehicle. Conclusion: only a small percent of patients treated in this office was transported to a higher level medical facility, mostly patients with myocardial infarction, supraventricular tachycardia and angina pectoris.