[Life-saving prehospital interventions]

The Mobile Emergency Care Unit (MECU) in Copenhagen provides prehospital healthcare for the citizens in the Capital Region in case of acute illness or accidents. The aim of this study was to describe the patients whose treatment was categorized by the MECU as lifesaving and to compare these with all other patients.

We analysed the MECU database contents and ambulance records from 2005 with emphasis on treatment and diagnosis. Data related to admission to hospital and 30-day survival were retrieved via the Central Population Registry.

A total of 296 treatments were classified as lifesaving in 2005, corresponding to 4.3% of all patient contacts in 2005. The most frequent diagnoses were "opioid-poisoning" and cardiac arrest. The treatment given in those cases was lifesaving in 34% and 16%, respectively. This is significantly higher than in the cases of convulsions/unconsciousness and trauma where only 0.6% and 6% of the treatments were lifesaving, respectively. After 30 days, 60.4% of the patients who received lifesaving treatment were alive. We found considerable differences among the individual diagnoses regarding both the 30-day survival and the hospitalization frequency.

Approximately 4% of patient contacts in 2005 were classified as lifesaving, they were most frequently related to opioid-poisoning and cardiac arrest. A total of 60% of the patients were alive 30 days after the intervention.