Common Procedures in Emergency Medical Service Activities: A Nationwide Cross-Sectional Study

Emergency medical services (EMS) are offered to patients with life-threatening conditions, such as cardiac arrest, respiratory failure, and major trauma. The EMS has led to an increase in the number of procedures performed in the field. This cross-sectional analytical study included all patients from the National Institute of Emergency Medicine dataset between 2017 and 2021. We analyzed the EMS response procedures, the patient symptom rates, and patient outcomes by number and percentage of procedures. In total, 1,788,669 EMS responses were eligible for analysis of EMS procedures. The most frequent symptoms of the procedure were “unconsciousness or stupor” (21.63%), “dyspnea” (15.06%), and “seizure” (9.14%). Head injuries were the most frequent type of injury (49.69%). The most common EMS responses included intravenous fluid (IVF) (40%), such as 0.9% NSS (38.94%); airway and breathing (16%), such as O 2 canular or mask bag (49%); immobilization (16%), such as collar with long spinal board (46%); stop bleeding (14%), such as pressure dressing (28.23%); medication administration (8%), such as 50% glucose (42.45%), adrenaline (27.9%), and diazepam (12.1%); and cardiopulmonary resuscitation (5%), such as chest compression (38.94%) and automated external defibrillator or defibrillators (5.98%). As a result, patient outcomes of the EMS procedure response showed that 54% of symptoms improved, and 21% of admissions occurred over 30 days. The most common EMS procedures among emergency patients in Thailand were IVF, airway, breathing, immobilization, and cessation of bleeding. These data highlight good improvement in patient symptoms in all prehospital and in-hospital phases. Training for EMS providers regarding the need for EMS interventions should increase in the future.