EMS Response Time for Life-Threatening Events
Identifying Attributes
Care Settings
Country
Publishing Organisation
Type of Quality Indicator
IOM Quality Dimension
Domain
Defining Attributes
Definition
Time from when a 9-1-1 call is received by AHS EMS dispatch to when the first ambulance arrives at the scene of the incident.
Numerator
(Ambulance arrival at incident time) - (9-1-1 call received time).
Denominator
Median and 90th percentile time in hours.
Exclusions
A standardised triage criteria is used to determine the priority of each incident. Letters A though E are used to distinguish levels of priority, where A (referred to as "Alpha") is the lowest priority and E (referred to as "Echo") is the highest. Events that are not triaged as being life-threatening (triage levels D or "Delta" and E or "Echo") are excluded. Non-ambulance emergency responses are excluded from these results. As such, STARS helicopters, medical first responders, and the use of Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs) are excluded. Community paramedicine, where paramedics provide mobile medical care in the community setting, is excluded from these results.
Use of Risk Adjustment
Risk Adjustments
None
Stratifications
By zone (South, Calgary, Central, Edmonton, North), geographic area (metro/urban, smaller communities, rural) and metric type (median, 90th percentile).
Collection and Reporting Attributes
Type of Data Collection
Data Collection Methods
EMS Computer Assisted Dispatch (CAD) data