Hostname: page-component-586b7cd67f-gb8f7 Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-11-26T01:29:51.026Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Use of Warning Lights and Siren in Emergency Medical Vehicle Response and Patient Transport

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  28 June 2012

Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Extract

The use of warning lights and siren (L&S) by prehospital emergency medical services (EMS) vehicles is a basic component of emergency response and patient transport. This public-safety practice predates modern EMS by 50 years. Despite the long-term reliance on L&S, it is not a risk-free practice. There are many reports of emergency medical vehicle (EMV) collisions during L&S responses and transports. These collisions often result in tragic consequences for the EMV occupants and those in other vehicles, and may cause significant delays to medical care for the patient the EMV was responding to or transporting. While there is no systematic collection of EMV collision data, some authors have suggested that the available information underestimates the extent of the problem. In addition, to date there have been few published analyses regarding the effectiveness of L&S as a modality that improves response times or, more important, patient outcome.

Type
Position Paper
Information
Prehospital and Disaster Medicine , Volume 9 , Issue 2 , June 1994 , pp. 133 - 136
Copyright
Copyright © World Association for Disaster and Emergency Medicine 1994

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

1. DeLorenzo, RA, Eilers, MA: Lights and siren: A review of emergency vehicle warning systems. Ann Emerg Med 1991;20:1331–1334.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
2. Elling, R: Dispelling myths on ambulance accidents. JEMS 1989;14:60–64.Google ScholarPubMed
3. Caldwell, LH: Hard Lessons. Fire Command 1990;57:20–21.Google Scholar
4. Sharpe, D: Ambulance Fatality Accidents for 1988. Presented at the 1990 Canada InterPhase Conference; Edmonton, Alberta, Canada.Google Scholar
5. Auerbach, PS, Morris, JA, Phillips, JB, et al. jr: An analysis of ambulance accidents in Tennessee. JAMA 1987;258:1487–1490.CrossRefGoogle ScholarPubMed
6. Clawson, JJ: Ambulance accidents. JEMS 1989;13:23.Google Scholar
7. Clawson, JJ: Hit or myth. JEMS 1989;14:8.Google Scholar
8. Page, JO: EMS Legal Primer. Jems Publishing Co. 1985;2.Google Scholar
9. Skeiber, SC, Mason, RL, Potter, RC: Effectiveness of Audible Devices on Emergency Vehicles. Washington, DC: U.S. Department of Transportation, National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, Publication No. DOT-TSC-OST-77-38, 1977.Google Scholar
10. National Association of EMS Physicians position paper: Emergency medical dispatching. Prehospital and Disaster Medicine 1989;4:163–166.CrossRefGoogle Scholar
11. Kallsen, G, Nabors, MD: The use of priority medical dispatch to distinguish between high- and low-risk patients. Ann Emerg Med 1990;19:458–459.Google Scholar
12. Curka, PA, Pepe, PE, Ginger, VF: Computer-aided EMS priority dispatch: Ability of a computerized triage system to safely spare paramedics from responses not requiring advanced life support. Ann Emerg Med 1991;20:446.Google Scholar
13. Standard Practice for Emergency Medical Dispatch. American Society for Testing and Materials Publication No. Fl 258–90. Philadelphia, Pa., 1990.Google Scholar
14. Leonard, WH: What a waste when a system fails. Ambulance Industry News 1991; 1: 6–7, 22, 44.Google Scholar
15. St. John, DR, Shephard, RD Jr: EMS dispatch and response. Fire Chief 1983;26:142–144.Google Scholar
16. Clawson, JJ: Medical priority dispatch—It works! JEMS 1983;8:29–33.Google ScholarPubMed
17. Clawson, JJ: The maximal response disease: Red lights and siren syndrome in priority dispatching. JEMS 1987;12:28–31.Google Scholar
18. Childs, BJ, Ptacnik, DJ: Emergency Ambulance Driving. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall, 1986.Google Scholar
19. Solomon, SS: Ambulance accident avoidance. Emergency 1985; 17: 34–35, 44.Google Scholar
20. George, JE, Quattrone, MS: Above all—Do no harm. Emerg Med Tech Legal Bull 1991;15:4.Google Scholar