Factors related to lack of autonomous mobility during out-of-hospital emergency care

Objectives.

To explore the frequency of lack of autonomous mobility and factors related to it in patients requiring prehospital emergency services.

Methods.

Cross-sectional, observational, retrospective analysis. We identified a stratified random sample of patients attended by the public health emergency service of Andalusia in 2011.

Results.

The sample included 280 patients with a mean age of 56 years; 63.9% were men. The majority were attended in homes and streets or other public spaces. Most were transported to a hospital in a mobile intensive care unit. The reasons for calling the service were most often related to chest pain or injuries. Loss of autonomous mobility was seen more often in men, when care was required in a public area, when there were injuries or altered vital signs, and when the patient required transport in a mobile intensive care unit. Dependence on others was significantly associated with the presence of a prior condition before the patient required transport (odds ratio [OR], 3.27; 95% CI, 1.60–6.33), the use of immobilization strategies (OR, 7.71; 95% CI, 1.7–34.96], and the use of ambulance transport (OR, 4.35; 95% CI, 1.63–11.60]. The following 2 variables were at the limit of significance: pain during the care process (OR, 1.13; 95% CI, 0.99–1.29) and age (OR, 0.46; 95% CI, 0.97–1.01).

Conclusions.

The profile we identified for patients and situations in which patients cannot move autonomously during prehospital emergency care can be used to plan preventive strategies to ensure patient safety.