Improving Rural Emergency Medical Services (EMS) through Transportation System Enhancements Phase II

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is crucial in rural environments where hospitals are not close by and are difficult to access. Establishing performance measures is critical in improving a rural community’s access to these services and eliminating systemic inequalities. However, an absence of quantitative performance measures challenges the development of attainable objectives. This study used the National EMS Information System (NEMSIS) South Dakota data to develop data-driven performance metrics for EMS. Researchers used the data for three tasks: geospatial analysis of EMS events, optimization of station locations, and service performance evaluation. The measures– timely service and service coverage – are both dependent on mobility and the accessibility of the transportation network. Service coverage is measured by the ratio of the number of emergency calls within the 8-minute travel time zone to the total number of emergency calls responded to by the EMS agency. Timely service is gauged by the percentage of emergency calls that were actually responded to in less than 8 minutes within the 8-minute zone. The results help to identify the specific areas for needed resources and training. If the service provided at the current capacity is not adequate, the EMS stations can either be relocated or augmented to increase coverage and quality. The bi-objective of maximizing ambulance coverage area and minimizing en route time has been established and solved by the genetic algorithm. Case studies were performed for counties under different constraints. Moreover, the factors contributing to en route time were thoroughly reviewed. Thirteen key variables were identified and their coefficients were estimated by the geographically weighted regression model.

• Record URL:
  https://www.ugpti.org/resources/reports/details.php?id=837
• 
• Summary URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/31946
• Record URL:
  https://rosap.ntl.bts.gov/view/dot/31945
• Supplemental Notes:
  • This document was sponsored by the U.S. Department of Transportation, University Transportation Centers Program.
• Corporate Authors:

  Mountain-Plains Consortium

  North Dakota State University
  Fargo, ND  United States  58108

  Research and Innovative Technology Administration

  1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
  Washington, DC  United States  20590
• Authors:
  • Qin, Xiao
  • He, Zhaoxiang
  • Samra, Haifa
• Publication Date: 2015-12

Language

• English

Media Info

• Media Type: Digital/other
• Features: Figures; Maps; References; Tables;
• Pagination: 56p

Subject/Index Terms

• TRT Terms: Case studies; Emergency medical services; Emergency response time; Location; Metrics (Quantitative assessment); Optimization; Performance measurement; Regression analysis; Rural areas
• Candidate Terms: Geospatial analysis
• Geographic Terms: South Dakota
• Subject Areas: Highways; Planning and Forecasting; Safety and Human Factors;

Filing Info

• Accession Number: 01594128
• Record Type: Publication
• Report/Paper Numbers: MPC 15-301
• Files: UTC, NTL, TRIS, RITA, ATRI, USDOT
• Created Date: Mar 21 2016 4:40PM