Geographic analysis of ambulance availability in Arkansas.

ABSTRACT

In keeping with emergency medical services (EMS) industry standards, response time requirements of EMS units in Arkansas are temporally based and reflect traditionally accepted concepts of reasonable access to emergency care services. However, time-centric response standards may be unrealistic and may place ambulance staff and patients at risk, particularly during mass casualty events. In view of the availability of current technology to efficiently re-route EMS units on the basis of geographic realities, traditional 4-minute and 8-minute response time standards should be reevaluated and replaced by or added to standards that emphasize spatially based objectives.