Modelling optimal location for pre-hospital helicopter emergency medical services

被引：29

作者：

Schuurman N. ^{[1
]}

Bell N.J. ^{[1
]}

L'Heureux R. ^{[2
]}

Hameed S.M. ^{[3
]}

机构：

[1] Department of Geography, Simon Fraser University, Burnaby

[2] British Columbia Ambulance Service, Victoria, BC V8W 91

[3] Department of Surgery, University of British Columbia, Trauma Services, Vancouver, BC V5Z 1M9

来源：

BMC Emergency Medicine | / 9卷 / 1期

关键词：

Geographic Information System; Injury Severity Score; Trauma Care; Helicopter Emergency Medical Service; Population Catchment;

D O I：

10.1186/1471-227X-9-6

中图分类号：

学科分类号：

摘要：

Background: Increasing the range and scope of early activation/auto launch helicopter emergency medical services (HEMS) may alleviate unnecessary injury mortality that disproportionately affects rural populations. To date, attempts to develop a quantitative framework for the optimal location of HEMS facilities have been absent. Methods: Our analysis used five years of critical care data from tertiary health care facilities, spatial data on origin of transport and accurate road travel time catchments for tertiary centres. A location optimization model was developed to identify where the expansion of HEMS would cover the greatest population among those currently underserved. The protocol was developed using geographic information systems (GIS) to measure populations, distances and accessibility to services. Results: Our model determined Royal Inland Hospital (RIH) was the optimal site for an expanded HEMS - based on denominator population, distance to services and historical usage patterns. Conclusion: GIS based protocols for location of emergency medical resources can provide supportive evidence for allocation decisions - especially when resources are limited. In this study, we were able to demonstrate conclusively that a logical choice exists for location of additional HEMS. This protocol could be extended to location analysis for other emergency and health services. © 2009 Schuurman et al; licensee BioMed Central Ltd.

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