Resuscitation
-
This study was planned to record prehospital death rates in four medical priority categories (A, B, C and D) and to evaluate if deaths in lower urgency categories C and D (target response times 20 and 90 min) could have been avoided by a faster ambulance response. ⋯ The use of medical priority dispatching was associated with very low prehospital mortality in lower urgency categories C and D. Approximately, one-third of those deaths could probably be prevented by a faster ambulance response but the price would be a three-fold increase in calls with blue lights and siren. Further studies are needed to find out if our results are applicable to other types of EMS systems.