Do ambulance crews with one advanced paramedic skills officer have longer scene times than crews with two?

Abstract

Objective: In 1999, the Metropolitan Ambulance Service (MAS), Melbourne, Australia began implementing The Emergency Operations Plan (1998). One of the initiatives of the plan was the addition of crews with one advanced paramedic skills (APS) officer and one non-APS officer (mixed crews). All previous APS crews contained two APS officers working together. There was concern that mixed crews would have longer scene times than all-APS crews. This study aims to compare scene times at time critical cases for mixed crews and all-APS crews. Methods: Prospective, non-randomised comparison of scene times for time critical cases for three mixed crew units and three all-APS units for the months of Augus..