BACKGROUND The increasing burdens of trauma and time sensitive non-communicable disease in Addis Ababa necessitate a robust emergency medical care system. The objectives of this study were to assess the proportion of patients who used emergency medical services (EMS) and to quantitatively and qualitatively assess barriers to EMS utilization in Addis Ababa. METHODS A cross-sectional quantitative and qualitative study was conducted on patients who visited five selected public hospitals in Addis Ababa with specific emergency conditions. Data were collected by trained nurses using a standardized questionnaire. Descriptive statistics and logistic regression was done on cleaned and coded quantitative data using SPSS version 20. Thematic analysis was performed on the qualitative data. Ethical approval was obtained prior to the study. RESULTS A total of 429 participants completed the survey with a non-response rate of 5.1%. The most common emergency scene was the home (n = 222, 51.8%) followed by road side (n = 159, 37.1%). Only 87(20.3%) patients arrived by ambulance, though a majority (53.4%) of participants recalled at least one access number for an ambulance service and 96.3% stated that ambulances were an important part of the continuum of care for their emergency condition. A higher proportion of participants believed that ambulance transportation is generally safer (n = 341, 78.5%) and faster (n = 298, 69.5%) than emergency transport by taxi or private car. Patients who were non-Amharic speaking had a negative association with arriving by ambulance (P = 0.001, OR 0.47; C.I, 0.31, 0.71). The median acceptable time to get the ambulance (according to respondent's perception) was 16 min but actually perceived ambulance waiting time was 40 min. CONCLUSION EMS utilization in Addis Ababa is relatively low and emergency patients are instead being transported by taxi or private car. Perceived longer ambulance waiting time and language barriers may have contributed for low utilization. Findings of this study suggest an action to improve access by improving ambulance availability while simultaneously enhancing the public's knowledge and perception of EMS in Addis Ababa.

中文翻译：

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亚的斯亚贝巴使用紧急医疗服务的趋势和障碍；埃塞俄比亚。

背景技术亚的斯亚贝巴的创伤和对时间敏感的非传染性疾病负担越来越重，因此需要强大的紧急医疗系统。这项研究的目的是评估使用紧急医疗服务（EMS）的患者比例，并定量和定性地评估亚的斯亚贝巴使用EMS的障碍。方法采用横断面定量和定性研究方法，对在亚的斯亚贝巴的五家选定的公立医院就诊的特定紧急情况的患者进行了研究。数据是由训练有素的护士使用标准化调查表收集的。使用SPSS 20版对清洁和编码的定量数据进行描述性统计和逻辑回归。对定性数据进行主题分析。在研究之前已获得伦理批准。结果共有429名参与者完成了调查，未答复率为5.1％。最常见的紧急情况是房屋（n = 222，51.8％），其次是路边（n = 159，37.1％）。只有87（20.3％）名患者通过救护车到达，尽管大多数参与者（53.4％）回忆起至少有一个救护车出入通道，而96.3％的人表示，救护车是其紧急情况连续护理的重要组成部分。较高比例的参与者认为，与通过出租车或私家车进行的紧急运输相比，救护车运输通常更安全（n = 341，78.5％）和更快（n = 298，69.5％）。不讲阿姆哈拉语的患者与通过救护车抵达的情况呈负相关（P = 0.001，OR 0.47； CI，0.31，0.71）。接受救护车的可接受时间的中位数（根据受访者的 s）（感觉）为16分钟，但实际感觉到的救护车等待时间为40分钟。结论亚的斯亚贝巴的EMS使用率相对较低，急诊患者转而乘坐出租车或私家车来运送。认为更长的救护车等待时间和语言障碍可能导致利用率低下。这项研究的结果表明，应采取行动，通过提高救护车的可用性来改善交通状况，同时提高亚的斯亚贝巴的公众对EMS的认识和认识。