VACAR Annual Report 2011/12 - Ambulance Victoria

Time (Minutes)
EARLY ACCESS
Emergency response to the incident
The time lapse between the patient’s collapse and administration of resuscitation is strongly
associated with survival from cardiac arrest. Response time, or the time from the emergency
call to arrival of EMS on scene is a crucial component of care for patients in cardiac arrest. In
2011/12, the median and 90 th percentile response times for metropolitan cases were 8.1 and 13.8
minutes respectively. These results are comparable to 2010/11 figures of 7.9 and 13.7 minutes
respectively. Rural cases observed figures of 11.0 and 24.0 minutes for median and 90 th
percentile responses. The median result was higher than the 2010/11 result of 10.0 minutes.
A first responder program for early defibrillation by fire-fighters operates in the inner and
peripheral areas of Melbourne. AV also co-responds with 29 volunteer community teams in
smaller, predominately rural communities across the state. The focus of these partnerships is to
reduce the time from collapse to the administration of lifesaving CPR and defibrillation. In
2011/12, 26% of all cardiac arrest patients were responded to faster by first responders.
Figure 29: Time from
call to arrival of EMS
on scene, 2011/12. 1
> 35
31 to 35
26 to 30
21 to 25
16 to 20
11 to 15
6 to 10
0 to 5
50% 30% 10% 10% 30% 50%
Rural
Metropolitan
Figure 30: Who
arrived first for cases
with an attempted
resuscitation, 2011/12. 2 26
26%
Ambulance Victoria
74%
First Responders
%
resulted in a faster response
by first responders for cases
with an attempted
resuscitation. 2
1. All ages, who received EMS attempted resuscitation, excluding EMS witnessed events.
2. All ages, who received EMS attempted resuscitation, excluding EMS witnessed events (DH Metropolitan region only). First
Responders include the MFB, CFA and CERT.
VACAR Annual Report 2011/12 Page 35