Dallas Fire Department EMS Care - Quality

[medicsb]

I've actually had this same argument before.

A system like King County, which has a relatively healthy, middle class, and well educated populous cannot possibly be compared to a system for example in Ohio, NJ, etc that has a destitute, unhealthy, and largely uneducated urban populous. Wouldn't you naturally expect better numbers in the former?

(which is actually another major flaw) comparing systems without the general health of the population.

In my mind, that makes it a rather poor indicator of system effectiveness.

Overall, I agree, but demographic information is not hard to find. It is not hard to make a comparison despite the fact that the Utstein template does not include demographic variables. However, considering that the template has been revised twice in the past, it is possible that it would be revised again. The ROC has published work showing socioeconomic associations with cardiac arrest and outcomes and at least two of the researchers involved with ROC have been coauthors of Utstein documents (Mickey Eisenberg and Graham Nichol).

While it may not be fair to compare Seattle/King County to Dallas or NYC, etc. It may be totally appropriate to compare Seattle/King County to Portland/Multnomah or Boston to Denver, etc., etc.

No one would conclude that Utstein is perfect, but it still has its use as a standard for data collection for cardiac arrest.