title: The association between ambulance hospital turnaround times and patient acuity, destination hospital, and time of day.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  The availability of ambulances to respond to emergency calls is related to their ability to return to service from the hospital. Extended hospital turnaround times decrease the number of available unit hours ambulances are deployed, which in turn can increase coverage costs or sacrifice coverage.
  
  
  OBJECTIVE
  To determine whether ambulance turnaround times were associated with patient acuity, destination hospital, and time of day.
  
  
  METHODS
  This retrospective analysis of ambulance hospital turnaround times utilized 12 months of data from a single, countywide, metropolitan emergency medical services (EMS) service. Turnaround time was defined as the interval between the time of ambulance arrival at the hospital and the time the ambulance became available to respond to another call. Independent variables included patient acuity (low [BLS nonemergency transport], medium [ALS care and nonemergency transport], and high [ALS care and emergency transport]), destination hospital (seven regional hospitals), and time of day (one-hour intervals). Data analysis consisted of descriptive statistics, t-tests, and linear regression.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Of the 61,094 patient transports, the mean turnaround time was 35.6 minutes (standard deviation [SD] = 16.5). Turnaround time was significantly associated with patient acuity (p < 0.001). High-acuity calls had a mean turnaround time of 52.5 minutes (SD = 21.5), whereas moderate-acuity and low-acuity calls had mean turnaround times of 42.0 minutes (SD = 16.4) and 32.5 minutes (SD = 14.4), respectively. A statistically significant relationship between destination hospital and turnaround time was found, with the differences in means ranging from 30 seconds to 8 minutes. Similarly, time of day was associated with turnaround time, with the longest turnaround times occurring between 0600 and 1500 hours.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  This study demonstrated that patient acuity, destination hospital, and time of day were associated with variation in ambulance turnaround times. Research describing other system characteristics such as current emergency department census and patient handoff procedures may further demonstrate areas for improvement in HTAT. Results from this analysis may be used to inspire EMS administrators and EMS medical directors to start tracking these times to create a predictive model of EMS staffing needs.
authors.affiliation: Mecklenburg EMS Agency, Charlotte, North Carolina, USA.
authors.forename: Steve
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Vandeventer
authors.forename: Jonathan R
authors.initials: JR
authors.lastname: Studnek
authors.forename: John S
authors.initials: JS
authors.lastname: Garrett
authors.forename: Steven R
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Ward
authors.forename: Kevin
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Staley
authors.forename: Tom
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Blackwell
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D016001:Confidence Intervals; D003299:Cooperative Behavior; D004631:Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006297:Health Services Accessibility; D006801:Humans; D016014:Linear Models; D009657:North Carolina; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013781:Texas; D013995:Time