Evaluating the Efficiency of Pre-hospital Emergency Centers of Medical Sciences Universities in the Fourth Planning Region of Iran

Due to the limited resources in the health system, it is necessary to measure the efficiency of health organizations. The purpose of this study was to evaluate the efficiency of pre-hospital emergency centers in medical sciences universities of Iran.

In this study, the efficiency of pre-hospital emergency care in medical sciences universities of Iran was evaluated by using the data analysis technique from 2015 to 2018. The inputs included the number of road stations, urban stations, ambulances, and manpower. The outputs included the mean bedside time, the number of dispatches to the hospital, and the travel number for traffic accident and non-accident patients. Data were collected through the accident and non-accident registry system in Khuzestan and Lorestan provinces (fourth planning region) and then analyzed using DEAP 2.1 software.

The mean scores of technical, managerial, and scale efficiency for the whole region were 0.889 ±0.025, 0.994 ±0.008, and 0.889 ±0.024, respectively. Therefore, there is a potential for upgrading technical and scale efficiency by 10%. The results showed that manpower was the main slack of production factors which reduced relative efficiency.

Overall, the efficiency of pre-hospital emergency centers was appropriate in Khuzestan and Lorestan Medical Sciences Universities (in the fourth planning region).