The Impact of COVID-19 Pandemic on the Use of Emergency Medical Services
System in Bangkok, Thailand
Abstract
Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has widely affected the global
public health system, especially the emergency medical service (EMS),
which has been the first responders since 2020. However, this pandemic
persists with still limited studies on its impact on EMS. This study
aimed to compare the number of EMS patients and the operation periods of
Bangkok EMS in Thailand between 2020 (severe COVID-19 pandemic) and 2019
(prepandemic). Data of patients with severe COVID-19 were collected from
the emergency medical information system of Bangkok EMS center. Data
were compared between the two periods. A total of 178,594 patients were
serviced by EMS, with 93,288 during the study period and 85,306 during
the control period. The study period had more EMS patients overall by
9.36% (95% confidence interval [CI]: 9.16–9.55) and significantly
more EMS patients per day, with a mean difference of 21.19 (254.90 ±
25.55 vs. 233.71 ± 23.49; 95% CI: 17.63–24.76, p < 0.001),
than the control period. Furthermore, all EMS operation periods were
significantly longer during the study period. The COVID-19 pandemic
period had more patients managed by EMS and longer EMS operation periods
than the prepandemic period.