Pre-hospital emergency medical services in developing countries : a case study about EMS response time in Yazd, Iran

Background : Pre-hospital emergency medical services, a subsystem of Emergency Medical Services (EMS), provides early care to critically ill and injured patients in the field. Time is an important factor in pre-hospital care and the length of time it takes to reach care, has a significant impact on patient outcome. This study aims to calculate the response time in EMS stations of Yazd, Iran. Methods : During 2008-2009, 11961 run report forms from all 7 EMS stations in Yazd that had been submitted to central station were surveyed. By using Excell statistical software and descriptive statistics (percent, cumulative distribution and standard deviation), we calculated fractile response times for Yazd EMS. Results : 81.15 percent of response times were within 8 minutes as a referenced standard for EMS. Conclusion : The majority of call services in Yazd EMS have been responded in a suitable time interval comparing with reference standards and country's approved EMS response time goal, but there are still rooms for improvement.