Weaknesses of the existing organization of emergency medical care in European countries

Abstract

The importance of an emergency medical care system for ensuring affordable and quality healthcare in any country is indisputable. Studying and analyzing existing problems in organizing this system is the first step to solving them. The present study aimed to investigate and outline the possible scope of the problems of emergency medical care, their recurrence, and similarity in 17 European countries. Content analysis of documents was used. The most characteristic organizational problems in providing emergency medical care for each of the countries are identified and grouped into five categories: Direct patient access to hospital emergency departments; Overloading of emergency departments by non-urgent, self-referral patients; Telephone triage by dispatchers - nurses or assistants; Existing and/or impending shortage of doctors in Emergency Medical Services (EMS); Regional and social inequalities in access to emergency medical care. A quantitative measurement of the categories and their relative weight were reported. Based on the analysis, the conclusions of the study were drawn. The identified problems, grouped into categories of weaknesses of the existing emergency medical care organization in European countries, may serve as a basis for undertaking health care reforms.