title: Duration of mission time in prehospital emergency medicine: effects of emergency severity and physicians level of education.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  Prehospital emergency care is provided in many European countries by specialised emergency physicians. However, little is known about the impact of experience and educational level of emergency physicians on providing prehospital care.
  
  
  METHODS
  During a 6-month period all deployments of an emergency physician-staffed ambulance in a metropolitan area were studied according to possible predictors of prehospital mission times.
  
  
  RESULTS
  In the univariate comparison the junior emergency physicians had 6.3-minute longer prehospital mission times than senior emergency physicians. This difference was evident in several National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) score subgroups. However, in multivariate analysis, patient conditions, like NACA score, Glasgow coma scale or prehospital diagnosis had by far the more significant impact on mission times.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  The effect of education on treatment process and outcome in prehospital emergency care should merit further research, especially to ensure that junior emergency physicians are properly trained before they work in prehospital emergency medicine.
authors.affiliation: Department of Anaesthesiology and Intensive Care, Charité-Universitätsmedizin Berlin, Campus Charité Mitte, Berlin, Germany. martin.schuster@charite.de
authors.forename: Martin
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Schuster
authors.forename: Matthias
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pints
authors.forename: Marko
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fiege
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004522:Educational Status; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004634:Emergency Medical Technicians / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D004635:Emergency Medicine / Q000193:education / Q000458:organization & administration / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005858:Germany; D006801:Humans; D010561:Personnel Staffing and Scheduling / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors; D000078329:Workforce