Lagos state ambulance service: a performance evaluation

Abstract

Objectives The mortality rate from road traffic accidents (RTAs) in Nigeria is almost double that of the USA. In Nigeria, the first emergency medical services (EMS) system was established in March 2001, The Lagos State Ambulance Service (LASAMBUS). The objectives of this study are to (1) determine the burden of RTAs in Lagos, (2) assess RTA call outcomes, and (3) analyze LASAMBUS's response time and causes for delay. Methodology We reviewed completed LASAMBUS intervention forms spanning December 2017 to May 2018. We categorized the call outcomes into five groups: I. Addressed Crash, II. No Crash (False Call), III. Crash Already Addressed, IV. Did Not Respond, and V. Other. We further explored associations between the (1) causes for delay and outcomes and (2) response times and the outcomes. Results Overall, we analyzed 1352 intervention forms. We found that LASAMBUS did not address 53% of the RTA calls that they received. Of this, Outcome II. No Crash (False Call) accounted for 26% and Outcome III. Crash Already Addressed accounted for 22%. Self-reported causes for delay were recorded in 180 forms, representing 13.7% of the RTA burden. Traffic congestion accounted for 60% of this distribution. Conclusion LASAMBUS response rates are significantly lower than response rates in high-income countries such as the USA and lead to increased RTA mortality rates. Eliminating causes for delay will improve both LASAMBUS effectiveness and RTA victims' health outcomes. Changing the public perception of LASAMBUS and standardizing LASAMBUS' contact information will aid this as well.

An assessment of geographical access and factors influencing travel time to emergency obstetric care in the urban state of Lagos, Nigeria

“…, 2018 ). While this might be the case in certain instances, the traffic contributes to delays for Lagos ambulances in 60% of cases ( Venkatraman et al. , 2020 ).…”

Awareness and attitude of final year students towards the learning and practice of cardiopulmonary resuscitation at the University of Ibadan in Nigeria

“…Although Nigeria is among one-third of African countries that have emergency medical services (EMS) [ 36 ], there are lingering problems with EMS coverage, immediate availability and awareness of the public about EMS operations [ 37 ]. The time from activation of emergency medical services to response is between 15 and 35 min [ 37 , 38 ] which is longer than [8 min] recommended by the World Health Organization (WHO) [ 39 ]. Government-funded EMS suffer from poor maintenance and lack of infrastructure and medical consumables [ 37 ].…”

“…Government-funded EMS suffer from poor maintenance and lack of infrastructure and medical consumables [ 37 ]. Venkatraman et al [ 38 ] also identified traffic congestion and bad roads as contributing factors to the poor response rate of the Lagos State ambulance service.…”

Improving Access to Healthcare in Sierra Leone: The Role of the Newly Developed National Emergency Medical Service

“…To our knowledge, this is the first nationwide study documenting the impact of a newly developed EMS on health service utilization rates in a LIC. Although previous studies performed in low- and lower middle-income African countries attempted to evaluate the few existing referral systems, analyses were restricted to the local, district, or regional level [ 30 , 31 , 32 , 33 , 34 , 35 ].…”

“…In Ghana, for example, poor communication between referrers and receivers has been shown to undermine the entire referral process [ 33 , 37 ]. Additionally, despite being key to assess the status and the performance of the entire EMS system, monitoring and quality assurance programs are frequently either absent or only partially developed among African LICs [ 9 , 34 ]. Our results indicate that almost all patients transported to hospital facilities met the priority criteria identified for NEMS interventions, suggesting a high compliance with the NEMS standard operating procedures for referrals and effective communication at different levels.…”