Summary
Profile of users and reasons for demand in out-of-hospital Emergency Service 061
Affiliation of the authors
DOI
Quote
Ortega Maján MT, Rabanaque Hernández MJ, Júdez Legaristi D, Cano Del Pozo MI, Abad Díez JM, Moliner Lahoz J. Profile of users and reasons for demand in out-of-hospital Emergency Service 061. Emergencias. 2008;20:27-34
Summary
Background: Demand of out-of-hospital emergency medical services (EMS) has increased in the last few years. The objectives of the present study were to describe the profile of 061 EMS users, and to evaluate whether the degree of satisfaction with Primary Healthcare (PH), the fact of having to wait for specialized healthcare, the labour situation and the knowledge of other EMS could have any impact on the demand of 061.
Methods: Study of a sample of 061 EMS users in a 2-month period. Socio-demographic factors and reasons for using this service were obtained using a specific telephone questionnaire.
Results: The response rate was 32,3%. Users were most frequently elderly people and females, and the most common reason for calling was related to respiratory problems (36 users, 27,9%). The demand was greater on Sundays (27 users, 20,9%) and between 15 and 22 hours (59 users, 45,7%). The users positively valued the medical assistance by PH; 24 individuals (18,6%) were waiting to be seen by a specialist physician; being absent from work to visit a doctor was not a problem for any of the users; and 68 (52,7%) users had knowledge about other EMS.
Conclusions: 061 was not used as a first option to get into the health care system. Inaddition to the severity of the disease, several external factors play a role in the demand of this medical service.