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Related Experiment Videos

Validation of using EMS dispatch codes to identify low-acuity patients.

Manish N Shah1, Paul Bishop, E Brooke Lerner

  • 1Department of Emergency Medicine, University of Rochester School of Medicine & Dentistry, Rochester, New York, USA. manish_shah@urmc.rochester.edu

Prehospital Emergency Care
|July 23, 2005
PubMed
Summary

This study validated 11 emergency medical services (EMS) dispatch codes for identifying low-acuity patients. These validated codes can improve patient triage by accurately predicting low-acuity needs.

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Area of Science:

  • Emergency Medicine
  • Health Services Research

Background:

  • Emergency medical services (EMS) are crucial for patient care.
  • Accurate triage of patients based on dispatch information is essential for efficient resource allocation.
  • Previously derived EMS dispatch codes require validation for their predictive ability in identifying low-acuity illnesses.

Purpose of the Study:

  • To prospectively validate the predictive accuracy of established emergency medical services (EMS) dispatch codes for identifying patients with low-acuity illnesses.
  • To assess the clinical impact of advanced life support (ALS) interventions for patients initially identified as high-acuity.

Main Methods:

  • A prospective descriptive study was conducted in Rochester, New York.
  • An expert panel modified a set of 21 low-priority EMS dispatch codes.

Related Experiment Videos

  • Patients assigned these codes were analyzed for low-acuity criteria (basic life support or no lights/sirens transport), with codes validated if >90% met criteria.

    • Main Results:

    • Out of 43,602 patients, 7,540 were dispatched as low-priority.
    • 7,197 (95%) of these patients met low-acuity criteria, validating 11 specific EMS dispatch codes.
    • Of 343 high-acuity patients, 18% received clinically impactful ALS interventions.

    Conclusions:

    • 11 EMS dispatch codes were prospectively validated for accurately identifying low-acuity patients.
    • These validated codes offer a reliable method for triaging EMS patients using dispatch data.
    • Further review of high-acuity patients indicated that ALS interventions were not always clinically necessary.