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[The majority of emergency calls are erroneous]
H Sakaguchi1, K Ushijima, K Okamoto
1Surgical Center, Kumamoto University Hospital.
Masui. the Japanese Journal of Anesthesiology
|March 26, 1998
Summary
Kumamoto University Hospital
Area of Science:
- Medical Informatics
- Emergency Medicine
- Hospital Administration
Background:
- An emergency call system for cardiopulmonary resuscitation (CPR) specialists has been operational at Kumamoto University Hospital since 1986.
- Continuous system improvements have been implemented since its inception.
Purpose of the Study:
- To prospectively evaluate the performance of the emergency call system.
- To identify reasons for a high rate of non-emergency calls.
Main Methods:
- Prospective evaluation of all calls made to the emergency system.
- Analysis of call logs from April 1, 1996, to March 31, 1997.
- Investigation into the cause of erroneous calls.
Main Results:
- A total of 36 calls were recorded during the evaluation period.
- Only two calls (6%) were identified as true emergencies.
- A significant majority of calls (94%) were erroneous, often due to misdialing from a government telecommunication system with similar numbers.
Conclusions:
- The high rate of erroneous calls suggests a system vulnerability rather than increased awareness of the CPR team.
- A misdialing issue related to a government telecommunication network is the likely cause of false alarms.
- Changing the emergency call number is proposed to resolve the issue.