A Global Emergency: Identifying Priorities for Reforming International Emergency Medical Systems

Abstract

Emergency Medical Systems differ around the world and perform at varying levels of effectiveness. This study analyzed how well countries met the emergency response requirements for emergency medical teams set by the World Health Organization and professional literature recommendations in the three levels of country classifications set by the United Nations. This was conducted through a stratified random sample of ten countries in the categories: developed, economies in transition, and developing, for a total of thirty countries. Each country was qualitatively analyzed for emergency response times, types of public-to-provider communication, insurance/financial coverage, certification level of emergency care provider, and level of emergency hospital care. These areas were compared to the WHO recommendations and the higher standards of care recommended by the professional literature. It was found that 90% of developing countries did not meet the WHO recommendation compared to 50% of transitioning economies, and 10% of developed countries. There was a strong positive correlation between Gross Domestic Product and overall effectiveness of an EMS system. Moving forward, it is recommended that the underlying problems be identified, risk factors evaluated, possible interventions created, and implementing interventions in developing countries to improve communication from public to provider in pre-hospital care, and hospital emergency care