Emergency ambulance use is deemed necessary for the transport of acutely ill patients to hospital emergency departments (ED). However, some patients are discharged as they present low acuity or chronic problems and should receive primary healthcare services, while the most severely ill are admitted. In the present study, we examined the descriptive epidemiology of ambulance transports for emergencies in the ED by utilizing the data of the information systems of a public tertiary general hospital in Greece. More than half of the patients transferred to the ED by an ambulance were finally admitted to the hospital (52.25%), whereas only one-third (33.74%) of those transferred by other means. A statistically significant association was detected between ambulance use and hospital admission. Age was also statistically significantly higher in the ambulance group. Higher mean values of creatinine, CRP, LDH, urea, white-blood-cell count, and neutrophils were detected in the ambulance group, in contrast to hemoglobin and lymphocyte count which were higher in the non-ambulance group.
Keywords: ambulances; emergency medical services; hospital information systems.