Emergency medical service key performance indicators

Answer:

Performance indicators are measurement tools that should be “specific, measurable, action oriented, relevant and timely”. Three types of indicators are used to measure quality in patient care: Structure, process and outcome indicators. EMS (Emergency Medical Service) system performance indicators follow the same classification.

Structural data are attributes of the setting in which care is provided. These usually refer to the characteristics
of the different components of an EMS system including facilities, equipment, staffing, knowledge base of providers,
credentialing, deployment. Since EMS systems designs are diverse as discussed above, these indicators may not be
applicable to all systems. Emergency vehicle response time standard is the most commonly used structure measure
in EMS. The goal is to respond to 90% of priority 1 calls (life threatening and highly time dependent) in less
than 9 min utes.

Another type of measures is process data. These are the components of the encounter between the pre hospital
provider and the patient. It is an evaluation of the steps of the care provided. Process measures are more sensitive to differences in quality of care. In contrast to structure and outcome measures that provide an indirect approach to quality measurement, process measures allow for a direct assessment of quality of care. One example would be collecting specific data points on the process of endotracheal intubation performed by EMS providers to monitor the success rate of this procedure.

A third type of measures is outcome data. These evaluate the change in patient’s subsequent health status in
response to a clinical intervention. Outcome research in EMS focuses on determining the effectiveness
of some of these interventions and showing the true value of an EMS system since it offers feedback on all aspects
of care. Outcome data is easy to interpret and easily understood by the different stakeholders. Internationally, out-of-hospital cardiac arrest (OHCA) survival is the most common outcome measure used to compare EMS systems.