Impact of COVID-19 on emergency medical services utilization and severity in the U.S. Upper Midwest.

ABSTRACT: The COVID-19 pandemic has claimed over one million lives in the United States and has drastically changed how patients interact with the healthcare system. Emergency medical services (EMS) are essential for emergency response, disaster preparedness, and responding to everyday emergencies. We therefore examined differences in EMS utilization and call severity in 2020 compared to trends from 2015-2019 in a large, multi-state advanced life support EMS agency serving the U.S. Upper Midwest. Specifically, we analyzed all emergency calls made to Mayo Clinic Ambulance, the sole advanced life support EMS provider serving a large area in Minnesota and Wisconsin, and compared the number of emergency calls made in 2020 to the number of calls expected based on trends from 2015-2019. We similarly compa

SUBMITTER: Shalom M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11444382 | biostudies-literature | 2024

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature