When ‘they’ll get it at the hospital’ becomes a delay
EMS clinicians often delay non-life-saving treatments assuming the emergency department will provide them shortly, but ED crowding causes significant delays. A study found that prehospital steroid administration for asthma patients reduced hospital admission rates from 33.3% to 12.9%.
EMS clinicians often defer non-life-saving treatments when transport times to hospitals are short, assuming the emergency department will provide them shortly. However, ED crowding causes significant delays in treatment administration. A study on asthma patients found that prehospital steroid administration took approximately 15 minutes, compared to 40 minutes in the ED. Hospital admission rates were 12.9% for prehospital steroids versus 33.3% for ED-only steroids. The 'close-to-the-hospital' bias in EMS can lead to delayed care due to prolonged EMS offload delays, hallway boarding, and deferred medication administration.
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