Patterns in California Ambulance Patient Offload Times by Local Emergency Medical Services Agency.

ABSTRACT:

Importance

Ambulance offload delays are a timely and crucial issue with implications for patients, emergency medical services (EMS) agencies, hospitals, and communities. Published data on recent patterns in ambulance patient offload times (APOTs) are sparse.

Objective

To examine patterns in APOT by California local EMS agency and variation between and within local agencies.

Design, setting, and participants

This cohort study used APOT reports from the California EMS Authority and local EMS agencies between January 1, 2021, and June 30, 2023, to examine patterns in ambulance offload times. County-level population data were collected from the US Census Bureau to calculate mean annual offloads per 1000 population.

Exposure

Ambulance transport to emergency departme

SUBMITTER: Feldmeier M 

PROVIDER: S-EPMC11650417 | biostudies-literature | 2024 Dec

REPOSITORIES: biostudies-literature