Duration of mission time in prehospital emergency medicine: effects of emergency severity and physicians level of education

Abstract

Background: Prehospital emergency care is provided in many European countries by specialised emergency physicians. However, little is known about the impact of experience and educational level of emergency physicians on providing prehospital care.

Methods: During a 6-month period all deployments of an emergency physician-staffed ambulance in a metropolitan area were studied according to possible predictors of prehospital mission times.

Results: In the univariate comparison the junior emergency physicians had 6.3-minute longer prehospital mission times than senior emergency physicians. This difference was evident in several National Advisory Committee for Aeronautics (NACA) score subgroups. However, in multivariate analysis, patient conditions, like NACA score, Glasgow coma scale or prehospital diagnosis had by far the more significant impact on mission times.

Conclusion: The effect of education on treatment process and outcome in prehospital emergency care should merit further research, especially to ensure that junior emergency physicians are properly trained before they work in prehospital emergency medicine.