The general aim of this study will be to examine the use of the EMS among patients presenting to AUBMC emergency department with EMS priority conditions.

The specific aims include:

-       Describing the patterns of EMS use in EMS priority conditions

-       Identifying predictors of EMS utilization in EMS priority conditions

The study will be a cross-sectional study of patients presenting to the Emergency Department (ED) at the American University of Beirut Medical Center (AUBMC) - the busiest ED in Lebanon serving more than 49000 patient visits yearly. The study will include a patient survey or caregiver survey (for pediatric patients) and a chart review of enrolled patients ED visit. 

Adult patients (age 18 and above) presenting to the ED with respiratory distress, chest pain, major trauma, cardiac arrest, airway obstruction and respiratory arrest and all pediatric patients (age <18) with major trauma, respiratory distress, airway obstruction, respiratory arrest, cardiac arrest and seizure presenting to AUBMC during the study period will be enrolled in our study. 

In order to include a representative sample of patients admitted to the ED at AUB-MC, a two level sampling will be carried out. The first is to randomly select the ED shifts (day, evening, and night), through a stratified random selection.  The percentage of each of the three shifts depends on the daily ED visit distribution. This will be carried out by obtaining computer generated random numbers.  As a second level of sampling, consecutive patients presenting to the ED and meeting inclusion criteria will be invited to participate.