Logistics for Emergency Medical Service systems

Emergency Medical Service (EMS) systems worldwide are complex systems, characterized by significant variation in service providers, care pathways, patient case-mix and quality care indicators. Analysing and improving them is therefore challenging. Since EMS systems differ between countries, it is difficult to provide generic rules and approaches for EMS planning. Nevertheless, the common goal for all service providers is to offer medical assistance to patients with serious injuries or illnesses as quickly as possible. This paper presents an overview of logistical problems arising for EMS providers, demonstrating how some of these problems are related and intertwined. For each individual planning problem, a description as well as a concise literature overview of solution approaches considered is given. A summary table classifies the literature according to the problems addressed and connects it to the proposed taxonomy.