Related Experiment Video
Updated: Apr 25, 2026

Prehospital Thrombolysis: A Manual from Berlin
Published on: November 26, 2013
Time is money, but how much? The monetary value of response time for Thai ambulance emergency services
Henrik Jaldell1, Prachaksvich Lebnak2, Anurak Amornpetchsathaporn2
1Department of Economics, Karlstad University, Karlstad, Sweden.
Objective:
To calculate the monetary value of the time factor per minute and per year for emergency services.
Methods:
The monetary values for ambulance emergency services were calculated for two different time factors, response time, which is the time from when a call is received by the emergency medical service call-taking center until the response team arrives at the emergency scene, and operational time, which includes the time to the hospital. The study was performed in two steps. First, marginal effects of reduced fatalities and injuries for a 1-minute change in the time factors were calculated. Second, the marginal effects and the monetary values were put together to find a value per minute.
Results:
The values were found to be 5.5 million Thai bath/min for fatality and 326,000 baht/min for severe injury. The total monetary value for a 1-minute improvement for each dispatch, summarized over 1 year, was 1.6 billion Thai baht using response time.
Conclusions:
The calculated values could be used in a cost-benefit analysis of an investment reducing the response time. The results from similar studies could for example be compared to the cost of moving an ambulance station or investing in a new alarm system.
Related Concept Videos
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation I: Adult
Introduction Cardiac Emergencies
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation III: AED Use
Bystander Effect
Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation IV: Pharmacological Management
Blood Studies for Cardiovascular System I: Cardiac Biomarkers
The essential diagnostic tools for detecting myocardial necrosis and monitoring individuals suspected of having acute coronary syndrome (ACS) include:
Troponins
Troponins, particularly cardiac troponins I and T, are the most precise and sensitive markers of myocardial injury. They are detectable within 4-6 hours of myocardial injury and remain...

