Optimizing locations of emergency medical stations for rural areas: A case study in Iran

Abstract

Given the dearth of emergency medical services in rural areas, offering these services is among the most important things that should be done right to save the lives of people who have suffered severe injuries. Rapid access to EMSs, which includes a shorter response time and the availability of all intensive care services, including the ICU, CCU, NICU, and PICU, is crucial in this regard. In this regard, a GIS-based ACO-QAP model is proposed for rural areas to optimize locations for EMS stations. This model takes into account the standards of EMS in rural areas, and the standards of out-of-city roads, reducing the response times from EMS stations to the scene of damage and from the damage scene to the closest hospital that offers the required intensive care services. Additionally, to increase the availability of intensive care services and to optimal use of available resources, the model determines which types of intensive care services should be provided in the EMS stations. As a result of the integration for setting up the out-of-city EMS, 614 optimized locations were identified. The identified EMS stations should provide single or multiple intensive care services. There were identified as 544 (88.6%) multiservice stations and 70 (11.4%) single service stations. Among the multiservice stations, 113 (20.8%) stations were identified as two-service, 150 (27.5%) as three-service, and 281 (51.7%), as four-service stations. This model generates a chain of EMS stations that improves spatial accessibility and emergency medical availability while reducing resource usage.