112 EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE IN THE METROPOLIS

Background: in this study, we aimed to evaluate the transport time of pre-hospital emergency medical service and the demographic characteristics of the patients. methods: all patients admitted to a tertiary emergency service by a 112 emergency medical service ambulance between 01-31 january 2013 were enrolled to the study. patients’ data were collected from ambulance transfer forms and hospital records. results: 1590 patients were admitted to the emergency service during the study time. time to reach the scene was 9,23±8,6 (0-69) minutes and time from emergency call to hospital arrival was 22,75±19,7(8-94) minutes. in morning hours when the traffic is heavy, time to reach the scene was 7±4,3 minutes, and in the evening 11,17±6,85 minutes and time to reach from the scene to the hospital at morning hours were 12±9,02 minutes, in the evening 14,23±8,5 minutes. the most common reasons for 112 calls were trauma and cardiovascular disorders. 165 (10,3%) of the patients were admitted to the hospital and 126 (7,9%) patients were admitted to the intensive care unit. conclusion: significant portion of patients transferred to the emergency service by ambulance were hospitalized due to serious diseases and some of them were referred to another hospital’s intensive care unit. to prevent delays in emergency services, pre-hospital emergency medical services should be planned carefully and hospital facilities and capacities should be known by the ambulance management center