EMS Response Times

Currently, our society relies on Emergency Medical Services or 911 to respond in a timely fashion to a critical medical crisis. Is our reliance on “the system” well-placed?

Quick response time by Professional Medical Responders can mean the difference between short- and long-term recovery, the extent and severity of injury, and most importantly, the difference between life and death. A lack of a nationwide standard for measuring response times leaves important and critical minutes unaccounted for. Some EMS systems measure response time as when the emergency vehicle gets to the scene. However, minutes are left off in which the emergency workers park, grab their equipment, and locate the victim. Elevators, long hallways, large campuses and confusing directions make those reported response times misleading and incomplete.

At this point, the national statistic is that response time can vary from seven to 20 minutes or more. Given that without oxygen, the brain begins to die in four to six minutes and that depending on the severity of a bleeding wound, a person can die from losing too much blood if not adequately controlled, the precious and unaccounted for minutes are important. More precise measures are obviously needed.

Some cities have adopted new technology and creative approaches to more accurately measure and shave seconds and even minutes from their response times. Ultimately, in doing so, they are able to save more lives. A one minute decrease in the call-to-shock time (which is considered to be the truest measure of emergency medical performance) improves the odds of survival by 57%. Extending this calculation further, a victim’s odds of survival can increase almost four-fold with a three-minute reduction in call-to-shock time. The “call-to-shock” measurement obviously focuses on Sudden Cardiac Arrest (SCA). However, SCA calls are only a piece of the puzzle. Life saving care can be given in many other medical emergencies.

A number of counties across the United States are expanding the role of police officers and security guards and offering them defibrillators as they have the ability to reach the side of a victim more quickly. Seattle has taken an even more proactive approach to city wide training. The city has made partners out of ordinary citizens and trained them in CPR. Taxi drivers and restaurant employees, people who are part of the “public-at-large,” are on the front lines and ready to “come to the rescue” if the need arises. Providing a greater level of information and training to a larger number of people will, by extension, continue to increase survival rates. Not having an accurate measure of response times will continue to keep the public in the dark.

Davis, R. Only Strong Leaders Can Overhaul EMS.
USA Today, May 20, 2005, p. 1.

Davis, R. The Price of Just a Few Seconds Lost: People Die.
USA Today, May 20, 2005, p. 1.