PATIENTS FROM NURSING AND RESIDENTIAL CARE FACILITIES IN THE PRACTICE OF EMERGENCY MEDICAL TEAMS: TWO-YEAR STUDY

Background
The aim of the study was to analyze Emergency Medical Services Team’s (EMSTs) interventions to patients residing in nursing care (NCF) and residential care facilities (RCF), taking into account the patient's sex, age, reasons for the call, time of intervention, and the decision of the EMSTs.

Material and methods
The study included a 2-year retrospective analysis of the EMSTs’ interventions in Lubelskie Province (northern part) for the period January 1st, 2021 – December 31st, 2022. The data comes from the departure documentation of teams intervening in the State Emergency Medical Services system: the departure order card and the emergency medical response card.

Results
There were 177 EMSTs’ interventions selected, representing 1.27% of the total medical interventions made in the operational area during the indicated two-year period. In the analyzed group of subjects, it was evidenced that age had a statistically significant impact on the reason for calling the EMST (p<0.001). The highest mean age was for neurological disorders (77±18 years), while the lowest was for consciousness disorders (44±18 years). No association was shown between the location of the patient's residence (NCF vs. RCF) with reason for call (p=0.393), gender (p=0.279), type of facility (p=0.245), use of pharmacotherapy (p=0.524) and reason for call (p=0.813).

Conclusions
In the group under study, interventions due to circulatory and respiratory disorders dominate. Transport to the hospital was necessary in the group of trauma patients, which is related to the lack of surgical procedures and the limited possibility of imaging diagnosis of the injury at the site of the call. The demand for medical procedures that exceed the capacity of care facilities is high (69% of cases transport to the ED, 44% of interventions with pharmacotherapy by the EMST).