title: Prehospital Emergency Medical Services Departure Interval: Does Patient Age Matter?
abstract: Introduction The concept of response time with minimal interval is intimately related to the practice of emergency medicine. The factors influencing this time interval are poorly understood. Problem In a process of improvement of response time, the impact of the patient's age on ambulance departure intervals was investigated.
  
  
  METHODS
  This was a 3-year observational study. Departure intervals of ambulances, according to age of patients, were analyzed and a multivariate analysis, according to time of day and suspected medical problem, was performed.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A total of 44,113 missions were included, 2,417 (5.5%) in the pediatric group. Mean departure delay for the adult group was 152.9 seconds, whereas it was 149.3 seconds for the pediatric group (P =.018).
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  A statistically significant departure interval difference between missions for children and adults was found. The difference, however, probably was not significant from a clinical point of view (four seconds). Schnegg B , Pasquier M , Carron PN , Yersin B , Dami F . Prehospital Emergency Medical Services departure interval: does patient age matter? Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(6):608-613.
authors.affiliation: 1Emergency Department,University Hospital Centre (CHUV),Lausanne,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Bruno
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Schnegg
authors.affiliation: 1Emergency Department,University Hospital Centre (CHUV),Lausanne,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Mathieu
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Pasquier
authors.affiliation: 1Emergency Department,University Hospital Centre (CHUV),Lausanne,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Pierre-Nicolas
authors.initials: PN
authors.lastname: Carron
authors.affiliation: 1Emergency Department,University Hospital Centre (CHUV),Lausanne,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Bertrand
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Yersin
authors.affiliation: 1Emergency Department,University Hospital Centre (CHUV),Lausanne,Switzerland.
authors.forename: Fabrice
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Dami
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000367:Age Factors; D000368:Aged; D000369:Aged, 80 and over; D000552:Ambulances; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D006801:Humans; D007223:Infant; D007231:Infant, Newborn; D008875:Middle Aged; D015999:Multivariate Analysis; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D013557:Switzerland; D013997:Time Factors; D014187:Transportation of Patients / Q000639:trends*; D055815:Young Adult
keywords:  DC dispatch center;  EMD emergency medical dispatcher;  EMS Emergency Medical Services; EMS; departure interval; pediatrics