title: Use of a limited lights and siren protocol in the prehospital setting vs standard usage.
abstract: OBJECTIVE
  Our objective was to determine if implementing a standard lights and sirens (L&S) protocol would reduce their use and if this had any effect on patient disposition.
  
  
  METHODS
  In a prospective cohort study, we trained emergency medical services (EMS) personnel from 4 towns in an L&S protocol and enrolled control personnel from 4 addition towns that were not using the protocol. We compare the use of L&S between them over a 6-month period. Our protocol restricted the usage of L&S to patients who had maladies requiring expedited transport. Emergency medical services personnel from the control towns had no such restrictions and were not aware that we were tracking their usage of L&S. We also considered if patient disposition was affected by the judicious usage of L&S.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Prehospital EMS personnel who were trained in an L&S protocol were 5.6 times less likely to use L&S when compared with those not trained. Of the 808 patients transported by both types of workers, no difference in patient disposition was observed.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Our protocol significantly reduced the use of L&S. Judicious use of L&S has significant implications for transport safety. By allowing for selective transport with L&S usage, we observed no impact in patient disposition.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medicine and Pediatrics, University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey-Robert Wood Johnson Medical School, New Brunswick, NJ 08901, USA. merlinma@umdnj.edu
authors.forename: Mark A
authors.initials: MA
authors.lastname: Merlin
authors.forename: Kimberly T
authors.initials: KT
authors.lastname: Baldino
authors.forename: David P
authors.initials: DP
authors.lastname: Lehrfeld
authors.forename: Matt
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Linger
authors.forename: Eliyahu
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Lustiger
authors.forename: Anthony
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Cascio
authors.forename: Pamela
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Ohman-Strickland
authors.forename: Frank
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dossantos
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances / Q000592:standards; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000592:standards; D006801:Humans; D010343:Patient Admission / Q000706:statistics & numerical data; D011446:Prospective Studies; D013997:Time Factors