10th European Congress on Emergency Medicine, Viyana, Austria, 1 - 05 October 2016, pp.731
Objective: The study was carried out in order to evaluate patient, emergency call and treatment characteristics of medical transportations by 112 Emergency Health Services (EHS) of Çanakkale from islands of Gökçeada and Bozcaada from 2009 to 2013.
Materials and Methods: The study is a descriptive-cross sectional epidemiological study. The universe of the study was consisted of all of the patient registration forms which were completed for the patients transferred in ambulances from Bozcaada and Gökçeada islands between the dates of 01.01.2009 and 31.12.2013. A total of 1,144 forms were analyzed. The data of the study were obtained from the electronic database of Çanakkale EHS which was based on these registration forms. SPSS 15.0 program was used to compute the descriptive statistics and the chi-square statistics. The variables were patient characteristics (gender, age, social insurance), call type, reasons to call, first medical examination findings, Glasgow Coma Score (GCS), receiving hospital, preliminary diagnosis and treatment procedures. Official permissions were obtained from the relevant institutions to conduct the study.
Results: Of the patients transferred from the islands, 62.7% of them (n=703) were male; 18.6% (n=199) were in the age group of 20-29. The average of age was 46.9 (S=24,363, min-max. 0-95, median: 46 years old). 44% of the transfers (n=458) were insured by social security authority. 83.9% of the transfer system (N=889) were activated by 112 emergency call system. Of the transfers, 64.1% (n= 676) were recorded as medical calls; 66.7% (n=748) were treated as inter-hospital transfers; 80.3% (n=892) were referred to as the transfer to the State Hospital of Çanakkale. In regard to the preliminary diagnosis of the medical cases transferred, trauma was the most common by 33.5% (n=370), followed by cardiovascular system (CVS) problems (19.2%, n=212) and gastrointestinal (GIS) problems (11.4%, n=126). The most common types of trauma were fracture (29.7%, n=110), head trauma (27.8%, n=103) and general body trauma (14.6%, n=54). The most common causes of CVS problems were myocardial infarction (44.1%, n=94), angina pectoris (14.6%, n=31) and others (12.7%, n=27). The most common causes of GIS problems were acute abdomen (47.7%, n=61), bleeding (19.5%, n=25) and stomach ache (7.8%, n=10). The most common cases were trauma patients (65.3%, n=242) in the age group of 0-49 and CVS diseases (68.9%, n=146) in the age group of 50-79. Furthermore, in regard to the seasonal distribution of the preliminary diagnosis, 45.4% of the trauma cases (n=168) and 39.0% of the CVS diseases (n=83) were reported in summer. The four most common medical interventions were establishing vascular access, administering intravenous drugs, using a cervical collar and spinal board. Occupational accidents, traffic accidents and injuries were more common among the male patients compared to female patients (p<0,05).
Conclusion: The male patients, patients aged between 20-29, trauma patients were mainly transferred from the islands. Medical treatment and stabilization of fractures prevailed during the transports. The findings on the transfers may be instrumental in the improvement of the entire system by initiating a transfer chain and allocating a separate telephone line.