title: The impact of 'Shahal' (a new cardiac emergency service) on subscribers' requests for medical assistance: characteristics and distribution of calls.
abstract: The objectives of this study were to assess the impact of the new 'Shahal' (pre-hospital cardiac service) on subscribers' 'decision time'. A professional 24-h mobile emergency cardiac service has been set up, monitored by intensive care nurses via a central computerized operation unit. All subscribers carry a cardiobeeper for trans-telephonic transmission of a 3-lead electrocardiogram as well as an automatic intramuscular lidocaine injector for self-injection. During a 1-year period, data from 10,304 subscribers' charts were reviewed and analysed. Seventy-nine percent were cardiac patients and 15% were completely healthy. Median decision time for the general population was 44 min (range < 15 min to > 3 h); 59% of subscribers called within 1 h from onset of symptoms and 29% delayed calling for 3 h and more. The healthy subjects alerted the service significantly earlier (29 min). Three patterns of behaviour emerged from analysis of the daily distribution of calls.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology Tel-Aviv Sourasky Medical Center Sackler Faculty of Medicine, Tel-Aviv University, Israel.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Roth
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Herling
authors.forename: V
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Vishlitzki
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000552:Ambulances / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D003201:Computers; D003325:Coronary Care Units / Q000458:organization & administration* / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D005260:Female; D006801:Humans; D007557:Israel; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D000078329:Workforce