Emergency Medical Services amid New Wave of Coronavirus Disease 2019 Outbreak in Khon Kaen, Thailand

The Role of Doctors in Ambulance Management of Stroke Patients in Emergency Medical Services

BACKGROUND: Strokes are one of the most common of all neurological diseases and can be found in all genders and ages. Emergency medical services (EMS) are the first line of care with access to stroke patients from on the scene assessment to initial treatment. However, currently there are no studies regarding the role doctors play in initial ambulance contact to assess stroke patients. AIM: To analyze the role of doctors in ambulances managing stroke patients in EMS. METHODS: This was a retrospective study over a five-year period (2017-2021) at Srinagarind Hospital EMS units. The information from the EMS database was transferred completely into the data record form and imported into the computer system for further data analysis. RESULTS: A total of 10,329 EMS operations were examined. The mean age of the patients was 52.10 ± 10.24 years. A total of 64.4% (n = 6650) of them were male. The afternoon shift was the most common time for EMS operations with doctors in the stroke group (42.9%) and non-stroke group (59.3%). The distance from hospital to the scene in the stroke group was 12.6 ± 3.2 km. The average response time for stroke group and non-stroke group were 7.05 minutes and 9.50 minutes, respectively CONCLUSIONS: The role of doctors in the ambulance to manage stroke patients in EMS directly resulted in a decrease in time in arriving at the scene to diagnose, arriving at the laboratory, and arriving at the scene to activate the special team.