The Epidemiology of Adult Emergency Medical Services Use in Muğla

Abstract

Objective: This study aims to investigate the epidemiological characteristics and patterns of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) use among adults who presented to the emergency department (ED). Methods: A single-center, cross-sectional, and observational study was retrospectively conducted at the ED of a university-affiliated training and research hospital in Muğla, Turkey from July 2019 to January 2022. Results: During the study period, a total of 280,691 adult ED visits were recorded in the hospital's electronic health data system, with 31,671 (11.3%) consecutive critically ill or injured patients arriving via ambulances. The mean age of enrolled patients was 57.1±21.8 years (range, 18-112 years) and 56.4% of them were male. Of these, 41% (n=13,014) were admitted to the hospital (30.4% to wards and 10.6% to the intensive care unit), and the all-cause in-ED mortality rate was 0.7% (n=223). Public EMS was used in 97.6% of the cases, with the remaining 2.4% utilizing private ambulance services. EMS use percentages for critical illness, traffic accidents, and occupational accidents were 91.8%, 6.5%, and 1.7%, respectively. The triage codes were categorized as yellow (87.6%), red (12%), black (0.2%), and green (0.2%). Conclusions: Further investigation is necessary to better understand the operational, training, and public health implications of adult EMS use.