Trends and characteristics in pre-hospital emergency care in Beijing from 2008 to 2017

Abstract. Background:. We aimed to describe and analyze the pre-hospital emergency medical service (EMS) in Beijing and provide information for the government and medical institutions to optimize EMS. Methods:. We collected all pre-hospital emergency data in Beijing from 2008 to 2017. The chief complaint in each case was classified according to the Medical Priority Dispatch System (MPDS). The sites’ administrative districts were determined through geo-encoding of addresses and then classified into four functional regions. We analyzed the demand for EMS, emergency response times (ERT), and disease spectrum for Beijing as a whole, and for each functional region. Results:. A total of 4,192,870 pre-hospital EMS cases met the inclusion criteria, with a significant increase (P