Reasons for inappropriate ambulance calls by adult urban population

Aim. To study the reasons for inappropriate ambulance calls made by adult urban population. Methods. Emergency calls of 1016 patients, 917 of them - aged 18 years and older who sought emergency medical help for different reasons, registered 8:00 to 20:00 from January 1 to September 30, 2014 and served by the first author. Reasons for inappropriate ambulance calls were studied using specially designed questionnaire, which was used to carry out the survey in 298 patients in their places of residence. Results. The examination of the call cards revealed that majority of the calls - 826 (90.1%) - were productive, including emergency aid and inappropriate ambulance calls - 457 (49.9%) cases. Females made inappropriate ambulance calls more frequently compared to males - 277 (60.6%) and 180 (39.4%), respectively. Males under the age of 60 years (mean age 56.6 years) performed inappropriate ambulance calls more frequently compared to elderly males, with no such age-related difference in females. According to the survey, the reasons for seeking for emergency medical care were: «it was far to get to the outpatient clinic» (28 cases, 9.4%), «did not know the phone of the outpatient clinic» (7 cases, 2.3%), «for a timely aid and a doctor’s appointment» (16 cases, 5.4%), «because of the symptoms requiring treatment» (51 cases, 17.1%), «exacerbation of a chronic disease» (34 cases, 11.4%), «unaware of the fact that he/she should visit an outpatient clinic» (10 cases, 3.8%), «a non-working day» (17 cases, 5.7%), «known that he/she will be dismissed form an outpatient clinic» (23 cases, 7.7%), «nonresident» (11 cases, 3.7%). All of the above is the evidence of the population ignorance of the mechanisms of providing primary health care (66.1%). In addition, several patients indicated «long time is needed to get the appointment to a doctor» (25 cases, 8.4%), «not able to reach outpatient clinic» (12 cases, 4.0%), «do not trust doctors of the outpatient clinic» (45 cases, 15.1%), «the call to the outpatient clinic was not accepted» (11 cases, 3.7%) and «having problems of getting to a doctor» (8 cases, 2.7%) as the reason. In the latter cases, these reasons were indicators for malpractice of the outpatient clinics (33.9%). Conclusion. Reasons for inappropriate ambulance calls made by adult urban population, according to a survey - unawareness of the appropriate facility providing primary health care (66.1%) and outpatient clinics malpractice (33.9%).

inappropriate ambulance calls, emergency medical care, adult population