TY - JOUR
T1 - Repeated ambulance use by patients with acute alcohol intoxication, seizure disorder, and respiratory illness
AU - Brokaw, Jennifer
AU - Olson, Lenora
AU - Fullerton, Lynne
AU - Tandberg, Dan
AU - Sklar, David
N1 - Funding Information:
From the University of New Mexico School of Medicine, Department of Emergency Medicine, Albuquerque, NM. Manuscript received October 1, 1996, returned October 26, 1996; revision received November 25, 1996, accepted December 2, 1996. Presented in part at the 123rd APHAAnnual Meeting, San Diego, CA, October 1995. Supported in part by Albuquerque Ambulance Services, Albuquerque, NM. Address reprint requests to Ms OIson, Department of Emergency Medicine, UNM School of Medicine, Ambulatory Care Center 4-W, Albuquerque, NM 87131-5246. Key Words: Alcohol, case management, EMS, injury, respiratory, seizure. Copyright © 1998 by W.B. Saunders Company 0735-6757/98/1602-000958.00/0
PY - 1998
Y1 - 1998
N2 - Three chronic conditions were examined - acute alcohol intoxication, seizure disorder, and respiratory illness - to quantify the extent of repetitive emergency medical services (EMS) use in a defined population. Urban EMS system ambulance data from 1992 to 1994 were analyzed for the three designated conditions with respect to transports by condition and individual patient. Analysis by χ2 was used for comparing proportions. Analysis of variance after square root transformation was used to evaluate differences among means. The total number of transports analyzed was 15,541: 7,488 for acute alcohol intoxication, 4,670 for respiratory illness, and 3,383 for seizure disorder. These transports involved 8,692 patients who were transported at least once for one of the three designated conditions. The mean number of transports for alcohol was 1.96 (95% confidence intervals [Cl]: 1.92, 2.01), seizure 1.32 (95% Cl: 1.27, 1.36), and respiratory 1.18 (95% Cl: 1.15, 1.21). Of 369 patients transported five or more times during the study period, 260 (70.5%) were for alcohol, 56 (15.2%) for seizure, and 53 (14.4%) for respiratory complaints. This group comprised only 4.3% of patients, but 28.4% of all transports. Acute alcohol intoxication resulted in more repetitive ambulance transports than either seizure disorder or respiratory illness. A small number of patients were responsible for a large number of transports. Focused intervention for patients with high ambulance transport deserves further study.
AB - Three chronic conditions were examined - acute alcohol intoxication, seizure disorder, and respiratory illness - to quantify the extent of repetitive emergency medical services (EMS) use in a defined population. Urban EMS system ambulance data from 1992 to 1994 were analyzed for the three designated conditions with respect to transports by condition and individual patient. Analysis by χ2 was used for comparing proportions. Analysis of variance after square root transformation was used to evaluate differences among means. The total number of transports analyzed was 15,541: 7,488 for acute alcohol intoxication, 4,670 for respiratory illness, and 3,383 for seizure disorder. These transports involved 8,692 patients who were transported at least once for one of the three designated conditions. The mean number of transports for alcohol was 1.96 (95% confidence intervals [Cl]: 1.92, 2.01), seizure 1.32 (95% Cl: 1.27, 1.36), and respiratory 1.18 (95% Cl: 1.15, 1.21). Of 369 patients transported five or more times during the study period, 260 (70.5%) were for alcohol, 56 (15.2%) for seizure, and 53 (14.4%) for respiratory complaints. This group comprised only 4.3% of patients, but 28.4% of all transports. Acute alcohol intoxication resulted in more repetitive ambulance transports than either seizure disorder or respiratory illness. A small number of patients were responsible for a large number of transports. Focused intervention for patients with high ambulance transport deserves further study.
KW - Alcohol
KW - Case management
KW - EMS
KW - Injury
KW - Respiratory
KW - Seizure
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U2 - 10.1016/S0735-6757(98)90031-6
DO - 10.1016/S0735-6757(98)90031-6
M3 - Article
C2 - 9517688
AN - SCOPUS:0031935105
SN - 0735-6757
VL - 16
SP - 141
EP - 144
JO - American Journal of Emergency Medicine
JF - American Journal of Emergency Medicine
IS - 2
ER -