Factors affecting false calls to prehospital Emergency medical services and analyzing The recorded false calls in the dispatch center
, 1, 1, 2, 3, 4
Abstract
INTRODUCTION: False calls to the prehospital emergency medical service (EMS) can divert EMS concentration from people with life-threatening conditions to a false situation and also affect the lives of the at-risk people.
MATERIAL AND METHODS: This cross-sectional study, was conducted in 2019. The population consisted of 28 Dispatchers personnel and 130 emergency medical technicians located in 24 urban bases, and the recorded messages of 450 false calls to the prehospital EMS were also analyzed. Both personnel perspectives on the false calls questionnaire and false call content evaluation checklist were used to collect data.
RESULTS: The most influential factors in the incidence of false calls were the dimensions of public education (4.38 ± 0.5) and instructions and guidelines (4.28 ± 0.51), respectively. “Insufficient knowledge of people about the sensitivity of EMS work” from the public education dimension (4.60 ± 0.54) and “Lack of codified rules for dealing with false calls to the EMS” from the instructions and guidelines dimension (4.48 ± 0.71) were the most important factors. type of requests from EMS were mostly unnecessary conversations (52.4%) and dispatching an ambulance (21.3%).
CONCLUSIONS: Given the importance of emergency, it is required to promote the general public knowledge and culture, as well as stricter rules and training programs for all ages, should be considered to reduce false calls. On the other hand, prehospital emergency medical dispatcher personnel should be trained on how to deal with false calls.
Keywords: false callsfalse emergency callsEMSprehospital emergency personnel
References
- Moradian M, Peyravai M, Ettehadi R, et al. Investigating the response time to emergency cases and the causes of delays in emergency services missions in Shiraz, Iran. JORAR. 2013; 5(2).
- Khoram Ni, Soltani S, Shirzad H. Ashore moghadam S, Naderi far M. Basic medical emergency prehospital, simin dokht. ; 2005: 3–11.
- Luiz Th. [Emergency medicine tomorrow]. Anasthesiol Intensivmed Notfallmed Schmerzther. 2003; 38(4): 296–302.
- Pakhereh E, Rezaeirad M, Tahmasbi B, et al. Ranking the factors affecting readiness of prehospital emergency care according to the perspectives of staff in mazandaran prehospital emergency services. J Mazandaran Univ Med Sci. 2016; 25(134): 261–269.
- Rahmati F, Gholamalipoor H, Hashemi B, et al. The reasons of emergency department patients’ dissatisfaction. Iranian Journal of Emergency Medicine. 2015; 2(2): 59–63.
- Catlett CL, Jenkins JL, Millin MG. Role of emergency medical services in disaster response: resource document for the National Association of EMS Physicians position statement. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2011; 15(3): 420–425.
- Cooney DR, Millin MG, Carter A, et al. Ambulance diversion and emergency department offload delay: resource document for the National Association of EMS Physicians position statement. Prehosp Emerg Care. 2011; 15(4): 555–561.
- Hjälte L, Suserud BO, Herlitz J, et al. Why are people without medical needs transported by ambulance? A study of indications for pre-hospital care. Eur J Emerg Med. 2007; 14(3): 151–156.
- Mortaro A, Pascu D, Zerman T, et al. The role of the emergency medical dispatch centre (EMDC) and prehospital emergency care safety: results from an incident report (IR) system. CJEM. 2015; 17(4): 411–419.
- Sticchi L, Gasparini R, Durando P, et al. First aid healthcare interventions operations centres (118) in Italy. JPMH. 2004; 45: 27–30.
- Azemian A. The standards of professionalism in nursing: the nursing instructors’ experiences. Evidence Based Care. 2014; 4(1): 27–40.
- Gardner GJ. The use and abuse of the emergency ambulance service: some of the factors affecting the decision whether to call an emergency ambulance. Arch Emerg Med. 1990; 7(2): 81–89.
- Waseem H, Durrani M, Naseer R. Prank calls: A major burden for an emergency medical service. Emergency Medicine Australasia. 2010; 22(5): 480–480.
- Zivanovic S. Misuse and abuse of 194 phone number at emergency medical services Belgrade. ABC casopis urgentne medicine. 2017; 17(2): 23–30.
- Palazzo FF, Warner OJ, Harron M, et al. Misuse of the London ambulance service: How much and why? J Accid Emerg Med. 1998; 15(6): 368–370.
- Assar-roudi A. The causes of late arrival of pre-hospital emergency from the point of view of clinical emergency personnel of the 115 of Mashhad in 2006. Dena Journal. 2009; 3(3): 1–15.
- Kawakami C, Ohshige K, Kubota K, et al. Influence of socioeconomic factors on medically unnecessary ambulance calls. BMC Health Serv Res. 2007; 7: 120.
- Shaw D, Dyas JV, Middlemass Jo, et al. Are they really refusing to travel? A qualitative study of prehospital records. BMC Emerg Med. 2006; 6: 8.
- Rashford S, Isoardi K. Optimizing the appropriate use of the emergency call system, and dealing with hoax callers. Emerg Med Australas. 2010; 22(5): 366–367.
- Victor CR, Peacock JL, Chazot C, et al. Who calls 999 and why? A survey of the emergency workload of the London Ambulance Service. J Accid Emerg Med. 1999; 16(3): 174–178.
- Zeraat A. Description of the Islamic Penal Code, Section of sanctions. 1 ed. Tehran: Ghognus; 2009.
- Tahir M, Akbar A, Kayani A, et al. Non emergency calls at an emergency setting: mass awareness needed. Injury Prevention. 2016; 22(Suppl 2): A217.1–A217.
- Vévodová Š, Vévoda J, Vetešníková M, et al. The relationship between burnout syndrome and empathy among nurses in emergency medical services. Kontakt. 2016; 18(1): e17–e21.
- Patterson PD, Weaver MD, Weaver SJ, et al. Measuring teamwork and conflict among emergency medical technician personnel. Prehospital Emergency Care. 2012; 16(1): 98–108.
- Weibel L, Gabrion I, Aussedat M, et al. Work-related stress in an emergency medical dispatch center. Annals of Emergency Medicine. 2003; 41(4): 500–506.
- Corcoran J, Townsley M, Wickes R, et al. Community variations in hoax calls and suspicious fires: geographic, temporal and socioeconomic dimensions and trajectories. Report to the Criminology Research Advisory Council. 2012; 48: 10–1.
- Alrazeeni DM, Sheikh SA, Mobrad A, et al. Epidemiology of non-transported emergency medical services calls in Saudi Arabia. Saudi Med J. 2016; 37(5): 575–578.
- Leichsenring F, Steinert C, Beutel ME, et al. Quality of depressive experiences in borderline personality disorders: differences between patients with borderline personality disorder and patients with higher levels of personality organization. Bull Menninger Clin. 2011; 377(9759): 74–84.
- Blackwell TH, Kaufman JS. Response time effectiveness: comparison of response time and survival in an urban emergency medical services system. Academic Emergency Medicine. 2002; 9(4): 288–295.
- Blackstone EA, Buck AJ, Hakim S. The economics of emergency response. Policy Sciences. 2007; 40(4): 313–334.