Time saved with high speed driving of ambulances.

Transportation with road ambulances is increasing because of a concentration of hospitals to larger units, with high quality in the acute care of the patients. The concentration implies longer distances to receiving units, which increases the transportation time. The purpose of the present study was to investigate the time difference in ambulance transportation with high speed emergency driving, compared to non-emergency driving in normal traffic pace. Data was collected from 30 emergency high speed ambulance transportations in urban and rural areas. These transportations were then repeated experimentally with an ambulance driving at normal traffic pace. The average speed and duration for the emergency transportations were shorter than for the experimental driving, both in urban and rural areas. The mean time saved was 2.9 min (urban areas) and 8.9 min (rural areas). Regardless of the patient's clinical status or need of care the emergency transportations were carried out in higher speed than the experimental driving. However, patients with life threatening conditions were not included in this study. Procedures and methods should be developed to identify the patients for which fast transportation has clinical relevance to the outcomes.