[The majority of emergency calls are erroneous].
An emergency call system has been used to summon specialists for cardiopulmonary resuscitation in Kumamoto University Hospital since 1986. Many improvements have been made to the system since it was established. We performed a prospective evaluation of calls made during the period from April 1, 1996 to March 31, 1997. There were a total of 36 calls, but only two of them were judged to be true emergencies. While at first we considered the number of calls reflected a growing awareness of the cardiopulmonary resuscitation team in the hospital, the large number of erroneous calls (94%) indicated other factors needed to be considered. Further investigation revealed the existence of a special, and little-known, telecommunication system connecting various administrative offices of the Japanese Government. Some of the phone numbers in this system are similar to the emergency call number. Thus many of the emergency calls were probably caused by administrative officers who misdialed. We are proposing to change this emergency call number.
Sakaguchi
H
H
Surgical Center, Kumamoto University Hospital.
Ushijima
K
K
Okamoto
K
K
Terasaki
H
H
D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D004631:Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital; D006801:Humans; D007564:Japan; D010348:Patient Care Team; D013685:Telecommunications