title: Epidemiology of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Utilization in Four Indian Emergency Departments.
abstract: Introduction Without a universal Emergency Medical Services (EMS) system in India, data on the epidemiology of patients who utilize EMS are limited. This retrospective chart review aimed to quantify and describe the burden of disease and patient demographics of patients who arrived by EMS to four Indian emergency departments (EDs) in order to inform a national EMS curriculum.
  
  
  METHODS
  A retrospective chart review was performed on patients transported by EMS over a three-month period in 2014 to four private EDs in India. A total of 17,541 patient records were sampled from the four sites over the study period. Of these records, 1,723 arrived by EMS and so were included for further review.
  
  
  RESULTS
  A range of 1.4%-19.4% of ED patients utilized EMS to get to the ED. The majority of EMS patients were male (59%-64%) and adult or geriatric (93%-99%). The most common chief complaints and ED diagnoses were neurological, pulmonary, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, trauma, and infectious disease.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  Neurological, pulmonary, cardiovascular, gastrointestinal, trauma, and infectious disease are the most common problems found in patients transported by EMS in India. Adult and geriatric male patients are the most common EMS utilizers. Emergency Medical Services curricula should emphasize these knowledge areas and skills. Wijesekera O , Reed A , Chastain PS , Biggs S , Clark EG , Kole T , Chakrapani AT , Ashish N , Rajhans P , Breaud AH , Jacquet GA . Epidemiology of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) utilization in four Indian emergency departments. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2016;31(6):675-679.
authors.affiliation: 1Boston University School of Medicine,Boston,MassachusettsUSA.
authors.forename: Olindi
authors.initials: O
authors.lastname: Wijesekera
authors.affiliation: 2Boston University School of Public Health,Boston,MassachusettsUSA.
authors.forename: Amanda
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Reed
authors.affiliation: 2Boston University School of Public Health,Boston,MassachusettsUSA.
authors.forename: Parker S
authors.initials: PS
authors.lastname: Chastain
authors.affiliation: 2Boston University School of Public Health,Boston,MassachusettsUSA.
authors.forename: Shauna
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Biggs
authors.affiliation: 3Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences,Trivandrum,Kerala,India.
authors.forename: Elizabeth G
authors.initials: EG
authors.lastname: Clark
authors.affiliation: 4Max Hospital,New Delhi,India.
authors.forename: Tamorish
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Kole
authors.affiliation: 3Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences,Trivandrum,Kerala,India.
authors.forename: Anoop T
authors.initials: AT
authors.lastname: Chakrapani
authors.affiliation: 5Fortis Hospital Anandapur,Kolkata,India.
authors.forename: Nandy
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Ashish
authors.affiliation: 6Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital,Pune,India.
authors.forename: Prasad
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Rajhans
authors.affiliation: 7Department of Emergency Medicine,Boston Medical Center,Boston,MassachusettsUSA.
authors.forename: Alan H
authors.initials: AH
authors.lastname: Breaud
authors.affiliation: 1Boston University School of Medicine,Boston,MassachusettsUSA.
authors.forename: Gabrielle A
authors.identifier: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-9486-5512
authors.initials: GA
authors.lastname: Jacquet
mesh_terms: D000293:Adolescent; D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002648:Child; D002675:Child, Preschool; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D004636:Emergency Service, Hospital / Q000706:statistics & numerical data*; D005260:Female; D016304:Hospitals, Private; D006801:Humans; D007194:India; D007223:Infant; D008297:Male; D008485:Medical Audit; D008875:Middle Aged; D012189:Retrospective Studies; D055815:Young Adult
keywords:  DMH Deenanath Mangeshkar Hospital;  ED emergency department;  EMR electronic medical records;  EMS Emergency Medical Services;  KIMS Kerala Institute of Medical Sciences;  NCDs non-communicable diseases;  RTA road traffic accident; Emergency Medical Services; India; emergency medical technicians; emergency medicine; prehospital emergency care