Pre-hospital emergency care: evaluation of an Australian system.
The efficacy of the Sydney ambulance paramedic service in dealing with out-of-hospital cardiac and other emergencies was examined. The outcome of 182 cases (from a total of 1,799 casualty calls) treated by a paramedic service was compared with the outcome of 104 similar cases (from a total of 2,376 calls) treated by a general duties service. There were 33 cases of cardiac arrest in the general duties group; resuscitation was attempted in 12 and none survived. There were 49 cases of cardiac arrest in the paramedic group; resuscitation was attempted in 21 cases and 4 survived. There were 35 cases of suspected myocardial infarction in the general duties group; 7 died compared with 58 cases and 4 deaths, in the paramedic group (mortality 20%, cf. 7%; difference not significant). The increased cost of a paramedic call, less than half of an entire hospital day, appears justified by better results.
D000552:Ambulances; D001315:Australia; D004632:Emergency Medical Services; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians; D006323:Heart Arrest / Q000401:mortality*; D006331:Heart Diseases / Q000401:mortality; D006801:Humans; D009203:Myocardial Infarction / Q000628:therapy*; D014693:Ventricular Fibrillation / Q000628:therapy*