An Empirical Analysis of the Effect of Ambulance Offload Delay on the Efficiency of the Ambulance System
Source abstract
Abstract
Ambulance offload delay (AOD) occurs when incoming ambulance patients cannot be transferred promptly from paramedics to emergency department (ED) staff, usually due to ED and hospital congestion. This study empirically examines how AOD affects ambulance system efficiency in Nova Scotia, Canada. Using 12 months of call data from an integrated provincial EMS system and the electronic patient care reporting system, the analysis quantifies AOD impacts on the number of ambulances at EDs, turnaround time, total call time, response time, and ambulance availability across all regions. Findings show that AOD in the Central Region negatively affects all performance measures locally and in adjacent regions, prolonging turnaround and total call times, lengthening response times, and reducing ambulance availability where resources are shared. These results highlight the scale of AOD’s system-wide impact and provide a generalizable methodological framework that other EMS operators can adapt to assess and manage AOD in their specific operational contexts, recognizing that region-specific factors significantly influence outcomes.
Source: crossref · Quality: baseline
Research context
OpenAlex topics: Emergency and Acute Care Studies · Facility Location and Emergency Management · Trauma and Emergency Care Studies
SciVX discovery tags are terminology-based. OpenAlex topics are source-provided classifications.
Affiliations
Department of Industrial and Systems Engineering, University of Florida, Gainesville, FL 32611, USA
Emergency Health Services Nova Scotia, Dartmouth, NS B2V 1E8, Canada
Department of Emergency Medicine, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
Department of Industrial Engineering, Dalhousie University, Halifax, NS B3H 4R2, Canada
Funding
Natural Sciences and Engineering Research Council of Canada
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