Logistics for Emergency Medical Service systems

Abstract

Emergency Medical Service (EMS) systems worldwide are complex systems, characterized by significant variation in service providers, care pathways, patient case-mix and quality care indicators. Analysing and improving them is therefore challenging. Since EMS systems differ between countries, it is difficult to provide generic rules and approaches for EMS planning. Nevertheless, the common goal for all service providers is to offer medical assistance to patients with serious injuries or illnesses as quickly as possible. This paper presents an overview of logistical problems arising for EMS providers, demonstrating how some of these problems are related and intertwined. For each individual planning problem, a description as well as a concise literature overview of solution approaches considered is given. A summary table classifies the literature according to the problems addressed and connects it to the proposed taxonomy.

Keywords:

• EMS systems
• emergency and non-emergency services
• forecasting
• location problems

Acknowledgements

This research was financed in part by EPSRC Grant EP/F033338/1 as part of the LANCS initiative and the Dutch Technology Foundation STW under contract 11986, which we gratefully acknowledge. The authors would like to thank the organizers of the EURO Summer Institute XXXI conference, at which the stimulus of this paper arose, for providing an excellent forum for the authors to discuss and debate new modelling and solution techniques to aid EMS decision makers. They would also like to express their gratitude to each of their University supervisors for their helpful comments and support, as well as each of the ambulance trusts that have actively provided data, comments and advice for each of their related doctoral projects.