Six years experience with an emergency department based mobile emergency care delivery system

The purpose of mobile emergency care is to provide on a basis of 24 hours out of 24, the necessary material (ambulances wiwth resuscitation equipment) and personnel (ambulance-drivers, nurses and doctors), in order to care for the victim of accident or sudden illness on the spot and during transport to the hospital. The experience gained with a mobile emergency care delivery system, organized within the Emergency Department of the University Hospital Sint-Rafaël Leuven, Belgium, is analyzed and discussed. The conclusions of the study stress the advantages, as far as economics and efficiency are concerned, of the integration of the mobile emergency care delivery system in the emergency department of the highly specialized university hospital.