2019 Volume 24 Issue 1 Pages 1-5
Our hospital is the only critical care center for a population of 430,000. The annual number of emergency transportation cases increases every year, exceeding 8,000 in 2013, which makes providing emergency transportation in each of these cases difficult. We examined cases of refusal to provide emergency transportation in 2015 and 2016. In 2015, of 7,846 emergency transportation cases, emergency transportation was refused in 191 (2.4%); and in 2016, 538 of 7,161 (7.0%) emergency transportation cases were refused. The percentage of refusal due to unavailability of beds in the emergency room or hospital was 40% in 2015 and 32% in 2016. Emergency transportation requests for patients with severe health problems need to be accepted as soon as possible. By refusing emergency transportation requests for patients with less severe health problems, it might be possible to reduce the unavailability of beds. Therefore, we have asked ambulances to transport patients with less severe health problems to neighboring secondary hospitals and have also asked these hospitals to accept such patients. In 2017, the cases of refusal to provide emergency transportation increased further, as the unavailability of beds in emergency rooms and hospitals increased. Since every establishment is limited by its capacity to accept patients, it is necessary to improve the efficiency of the system by promoting patient discharge and departure from the emergency room.
