Abstract: Background: Pre-hospital and emergency services in Indonesia remain underdeveloped. This research examined how patients utilise emergency medical services when attending hospital emergency departments in Jakarta. Methods: A cross-sectional survey involved five major hospitals (four government-funded, one private) in Jakarta during December 2019. Data were collected on demographics, medical conditions, transport modes, and timing information from 1,964 patients (62% of those attending). Results: The median patient age was 44 years. Life-threatening conditions such as trauma and cardiovascular disease affected 8.6% and 6.6% of patients respectively. Only 9.3% used ambulances, while most travelled by motorcycle or car. Among non-ambulance users, 37.9% were unaware ambulances existed. Ambulance response times were substantially longer (median 24 minutes) compared to other transport modes. Conclusions: Low ambulance utilisation reflected lack of awareness of medical symptoms and the existence of ambulance services, alongside cost concerns and extended response times. Recommended improvements include public education about emergency warning signs and integrating ambulance costs into national health insurance coverage.
@article{brice2022emergency,
title = {Emergency services utilization in {Jakarta} ({Indonesia}): a
cross-sectional study of patients attending hospital emergency
departments},
author = {Brice, Syaribah Noor and Boutilier, Justin and Gartner, Daniel
and Harper, Paul R. and Knight, Vincent A. and Lloyd, Jen and
Pusponegoro, Aryono Djuned and Rini, Asti Puspita and
Turnbull Ross, Jonathan and Tuson, Mark},
journal = {BMC Health Services Research},
volume = {22},
number = {1},
pages = {706},
year = {2022},
doi = {10.1186/s12913-022-08061-8},
}