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Emergency Dispatch Triage

A Systematic Review of the Relationship Between Ambulant Status and the Need for a Lights-and-Siren Ambulance Response to Crashes

Ellen Ceklic, GCHumanFact BSc (Hons), Hideo Tohira, PhD, MD, MEng, MPH, FJAAM, Stephen Ball, PhD, GradDip (GIS), BSc, Judith Finn, PhD, MEdSt, GradDipPH, BSc, DipAppSc, RN, RM, ICCert, FACN, FAHA

Mar 04, 2020|AEDR 2019 Vol. 7 Issue 3|Original Research

Motor vehicle crashes (MVCs) can result in life-threatening injuries, and ambulances are therefore often dispatched at the highest priority response of lights­ and-siren (L&S). However, assigning L&S ambulance response based on type of incident alone may result in over-triage, meaning that the patient's condition did not warrant L&S ambulance response. Potentially, the ambulatory status of the MVC patient at the scene (i.e., whether they can walk) could help inform the ambulance dispatch priority, given that ambulation reflects...

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