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Evaluating the impact of performance goals on dispatching decisions in emergency medical service

Most emergency medical service systems measure performance based on the coverage level for a given response time threshold, i.e., the proportion of 911 calls responded to within a fixed timeframe. The ultimate goal of emergency medical service systems is to save lives, which suggests that it might be worthwhile to consider using performance measures more closely tied to patient outcomes. This paper examines how the goal of maximizing coverage for different response time thresholds impacts patient survival rates in the context of emergency medical dispatch. Results illustrated using real-world data from Hanover County, Virginia indicate that dispatching ambulances to maximize an eight minute response time threshold simultaneously maximizes patient survival. A sensitivity analysis over different ambulance location configurations and call arrival rates confirms that seven and eight minute response time thresholds are robust. These results corroborate previous results that consider the decision context of locating ambulances. The results presented in this paper suggest that by choosing the right response time threshold performance measures for emergency medical dispatch, decision makers can achieve the best (aggregate) patient survival rates.