Response times in rural areas for emergency medical services, fire and rescue services and voluntary first responders during out-of-hospital cardiac arrests
(2024) In Resuscitation Plus 17.- Abstract
Aim: To increase survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA), great efforts are made to improve the number of voluntary first responders (VFR). However, evidence of the potential utility of such efforts is sparse, especially in rural areas. Therefore, the aim was to describe and compare response times for emergency medical services (EMS), fire and rescue services (FRS), and VFR during OHCA in relation to population density. Methods: This observational and comparative study was based on data including positions and time stamps for VFR and response times for EMS and FRS in a region in southern Sweden. Results: In total, 285 OHCAs between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2021 were analysed. VFR had the shortest median response time in... (More)
Aim: To increase survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA), great efforts are made to improve the number of voluntary first responders (VFR). However, evidence of the potential utility of such efforts is sparse, especially in rural areas. Therefore, the aim was to describe and compare response times for emergency medical services (EMS), fire and rescue services (FRS), and VFR during OHCA in relation to population density. Methods: This observational and comparative study was based on data including positions and time stamps for VFR and response times for EMS and FRS in a region in southern Sweden. Results: In total, 285 OHCAs between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2021 were analysed. VFR had the shortest median response time in comparison to EMS and FRS in all studied population densities. The overall median (Q1–Q3) time gain for VFR was 03:07 (01:39–05:41) minutes. A small proportion (19.2%) of alerted VFR accepted the assignments. This is most problematic in rural and sub-rural areas, where there were low numbers of alerted VFR. Also, FRS had shorter response time than EMS in all studied population densities except in urban areas. Conclusion: The differences found in median response times between rural and urban areas are worrisome from an equality perspective. More focus should be placed on recruiting VFR, especially in rural areas since VFR can potentially contribute to saving more lives. Also, since FRS has a shorter response time than EMS in rural, sub-rural, and sub-urban areas, FRS should be dispatched more frequently.
(Less)
- author
- Svensson, Anders ; Nilsson, Bengt ; Lantz, Emelie LU ; Bremer, Anders ; Årestedt, Kristofer and Israelsson, Johan
- organization
- publishing date
- 2024-03
- type
- Contribution to journal
- publication status
- published
- subject
- keywords
- Emergency medical services, Fire and rescue services, Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest, Response times, Voluntary first responders
- in
- Resuscitation Plus
- volume
- 17
- article number
- 100548
- publisher
- Elsevier
- external identifiers
-
- pmid:38292470
- scopus:85182349591
- ISSN
- 2666-5204
- DOI
- 10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100548
- language
- English
- LU publication?
- yes
- id
- 7d9e76df-f483-4d1b-b3f2-42c03a3aeffe
- date added to LUP
- 2024-03-01 13:35:00
- date last changed
- 2024-04-15 01:50:19
@article{7d9e76df-f483-4d1b-b3f2-42c03a3aeffe,
abstract = {{<p>Aim: To increase survival in out-of-hospital cardiac arrests (OHCA), great efforts are made to improve the number of voluntary first responders (VFR). However, evidence of the potential utility of such efforts is sparse, especially in rural areas. Therefore, the aim was to describe and compare response times for emergency medical services (EMS), fire and rescue services (FRS), and VFR during OHCA in relation to population density. Methods: This observational and comparative study was based on data including positions and time stamps for VFR and response times for EMS and FRS in a region in southern Sweden. Results: In total, 285 OHCAs between 1 July 2020 and 31 December 2021 were analysed. VFR had the shortest median response time in comparison to EMS and FRS in all studied population densities. The overall median (Q1–Q3) time gain for VFR was 03:07 (01:39–05:41) minutes. A small proportion (19.2%) of alerted VFR accepted the assignments. This is most problematic in rural and sub-rural areas, where there were low numbers of alerted VFR. Also, FRS had shorter response time than EMS in all studied population densities except in urban areas. Conclusion: The differences found in median response times between rural and urban areas are worrisome from an equality perspective. More focus should be placed on recruiting VFR, especially in rural areas since VFR can potentially contribute to saving more lives. Also, since FRS has a shorter response time than EMS in rural, sub-rural, and sub-urban areas, FRS should be dispatched more frequently.</p>}},
author = {{Svensson, Anders and Nilsson, Bengt and Lantz, Emelie and Bremer, Anders and Årestedt, Kristofer and Israelsson, Johan}},
issn = {{2666-5204}},
keywords = {{Emergency medical services; Fire and rescue services; Out-of-hospital cardiac arrest; Response times; Voluntary first responders}},
language = {{eng}},
publisher = {{Elsevier}},
series = {{Resuscitation Plus}},
title = {{Response times in rural areas for emergency medical services, fire and rescue services and voluntary first responders during out-of-hospital cardiac arrests}},
url = {{http://dx.doi.org/10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100548}},
doi = {{10.1016/j.resplu.2023.100548}},
volume = {{17}},
year = {{2024}},
}