title: Traffic accidents in Crete (1996-2006): the role of the emergency coordination center.
abstract: The general decline in traffic accidents throughout Europe is not the case for Crete, a favorite holiday destination. The extent of problem and reflections on the significant impact of the interplay of organizational, educational, & technological interventions by the Emergency Coordination Center of Crete (ECC-Crete) are presented. 10-year data from 1996-2006 have been analyzed revealing demographic, topological, and qualitative issues of traffic accidents in Grete. Primary source of data is 315000 emergency calls answered by ECC-Crete. Over this 10 year period, ECC-Crete gradually employed advanced medical technologies and electronic protocol-based handling in all phases of an emergency episode contributing to its timely and effective management. GIS/GPS technology and telemetry for biosignals in ambulances, up-to-date triage protocols combined with incidence analysis provide vital information for continuous process improvement. In 2000-2006, process improvement due to technological and organizational changes has led to increased efficiency. The mean reduction was ~75% in dispatch time, ~50% in the time at accident scene for metropolitan areas, and ~75% in time at the emergency ward, mainly due to medical interventions on site.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Coordination Center of Crete, Heraklion, Greece.
authors.forename: Dimitris
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Vourvahakis
authors.forename: Catherine E
authors.initials: CE
authors.lastname: Chronaki
authors.forename: Vasilis
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Kontoyiannis
authors.forename: Demosthenis
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Panagopoulos
authors.forename: Spyros
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Stergiopoulos
mesh_terms: D000063:Accidents, Traffic / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D057225:Data Mining / Q000379:methods*; D003628:Database Management Systems; D016208:Databases, Factual; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D040362:Geographic Information Systems; D006115:Greece / Q000453:epidemiology