Professional paper
THE WHAT DO YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT EMERGENCY MEDICAL SERVICE PUBLIC EDUCATION PROJECT IN THE VARAŽDIN COUNTY
ANĐELA SIMIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0003-0428-1658
; Institute of Emergency Medicine of the Varaždin County, Varaždin, Croatia
JASMINKA BEGIĆ
orcid.org/0000-0002-8912-4573
; Institute of Emergency Medicine of the Varaždin County, Varaždin, Croatia
Abstract
The objective of this paper is to present the What Do You Need to Know about Emergency Medicine Service project which was conducted in the Varaždin County (VC). The Institutes of Emergency Medicine (IEM) treat all emergency patients prior to their fi nal hospital treatment, either upon their arrival to the IEM on their own or if an Emergency Medical Services (EMS) team was dispatched to the patient’s location. Analysis of the number of fi eld interventions and the number of patient visits
to the VC IEM revealed that a high proportion (more than 90%) of patients visited VC IEM for non-emergency medical conditions. In order to reduce this number, the project of general population education in emergency medicine was developed and conducted in the VC. Partners in the project were VC IEM, Varaždin marketing and promotor agency d.o.o, and VC Health Department. The project documentation was previously approved by the Croatian Institute of Emergency Medicine. In phase one, the project was presented through local media, television and newspapers, and posters with information on EMS were placed on more than 60 locations in the VC. Interactive lectures held by healthcare professionals working in the VC IEM had the key role in the project. In these lectures, people learned not only about EMS, but also how to help an unconscious person or in case of cardiac arrest by providing basic life support until EMS team arrival. The lectures were taking place in small groups with no more than 30 participants. To date, nearly 3000 VC inhabitants attended the lectures. In 2014, there were 9025 fi eld interventions and a total of 26,580 patient visits to VC IEM. The share of emergency patients in all these visits was only 2096 (7.9%), whereas 24,484 (92.1%) patients were without emergency medical condition. In 2016, there were 10,460 fi eld interventions and a total of 14,203 patient visits. The share of emergency patients in these this visits was 717 (5%), while 13,486 (95%) patients did not have emergency medical condition. The number of patient visits without emergency medical condition was dramatically reduced, i.e. by 45%. This might also be achieved with repressive actions such as charging patients for unnecessary use of EMS but it could also lead to the people deciding to avoid EMS even in emergency situations. The What Do You Need to Know about Emergency Medical Service project in the Varaždin County has shown that public education is of great importance in reducing patient visits to the IEM due to non-emergency health problems. It would lead to more effective EMS in providing care for emergency patients in order to provide the best possible, timely and effi cient patient care.
Keywords
emergency medicine; public education; Varaždin County
Hrčak ID:
199528
URI
Publication date:
20.4.2018.
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