Availability and quality of prehospital care on pakistani interurban roads.

Availability and quality of prehospital care on pakistani interurban roads. Ann Adv Automot Med. 2013;57:257-64 Authors: Bhatti JA, Waseem H, Razzak JA, Shiekh NU, Khoso AK, Salmi LR Abstract Interurban road crashes often result in severe Road Traffic Injuries (RTIs). Prehospital emergency care on interurban roads was rarely evaluated in the low- and middle-income countries. The study highlighted the availability and quality of prehospital care facilities on interurban roads in Pakistan, a low-income country. The study setting was a 592-km-long National highway in the province of Sindh, Pakistan. Using the questionnaires adapted from the World Health Organization prehospital care guidelines [Sasser et al., 2005], managers and ambulance staff at the stations along highways were interviewed regarding the process of care, supplies in ambulances, and their experience of trauma care. Ambulance stations were either managed by the police or the Edhi Foundation (EF), a philanthropic organization. All highway stations were managed by the EF; the median distance between highway stations was 38 km (Interquartile Range [IQR]=27-46). We visited 14 stations, ten on the highway section, and four in cities, including two managed by the police. Most highway stations (n=13) received one RTI call per day. Half of stations (n=5) were inside highway towns, usually near primary or secondary-level healthcare facilities. Travel time to the nearest tertiary ...
Source: Annals of Advances in Automotive Medicine - Category: Global & Universal Tags: Ann Adv Automot Med Source Type: research