title: Dispatch centres: what is the right population catchment size?
abstract: Literature on medical dispatch is growing, focusing mainly on efficiency (under and overtriage) and dispatch-assisted CPR. But the issue of population catchment size, functional costs and rationalization is rarely addressed. If we can observe a trend toward a decreasing number of dispatch centres in many European countries, there is today no evidence on what is the right catchment size to reach the best balance between quality of services and costs.
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Services, State of Vaud (Fondation Urgences-Santé), Lausanne, Switzerland. fabrice.dami@chuv.ch.|Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Centre (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland. fabrice.dami@chuv.ch.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dami
authors.affiliation: Emergency Medical Services, State of Vaud (Fondation Urgences-Santé), Lausanne, Switzerland. vincent.fuchs@urgences-sante.ch.
authors.forename: Vincent
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: Fuchs
authors.affiliation: Department of Emergency Medicine, University Hospital Centre (CHUV), Lausanne, Switzerland. olivier.hugli@chuv.ch.
authors.forename: Olivier
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Hugli
mesh_terms: D002391:Catchment Area, Health; D017598:Efficiency, Organizational; D004631:Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems / Q000191:economics / Q000458:organization & administration*; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000191:economics / Q000600:supply & distribution*; D005060:Europe; D006801:Humans; D014218:Triage