is it useful in a Scandinavian Emergency Medical Service?
The Air Ambulance department, Oslo University Hospital – Ullevål, Oslo, Norway. andersrn@akuttmedisin.info. ABSTRACT: BACKGROUND: Medical emergency motorcycles (MEM) can be used in time-critical conditions like cardiac arrest and multi-traumatized patients in an attempt to reduce the response time. Other potential benefits with MEM are more efficient patient evaluation, reduction of unnecessary EMS car ambulance missions and reduced cost. The potential benefits have been evaluated in this study. The incidence of accidents when operating the vehicle was also of interest. METHODS: A prospective study was performed when MEM was introduced as a trial in an urban ambulance service in Norway. RESULTS: A total of 703 MEM missions were registered in the period. The mean emergency driving time was significantly shorter for the MEM than for the ambulance car located at the same station (6 min 24 seconds vs. 6 min 54 seconds). In addition to time-critical conditions, the MEM was used to evaluate
