Nordic-Baltic EMS Data Co-operation Intensifies!
The Nordic and Baltic Emergency Medical Services (EMS) data co-operation held its third workshop in sunny Copenhagen in mid-September. This workshop focused on data gathering and building more permanent co-operation between the countries. The ongoing project aims to produce a third edition of the report on Nordic-Baltic EMS data, set to be published in 2025.
A Deep Dive into the Danish EMS System
The project staff arrived early in Copenhagen to familiarize themselves with the Danish EMS system. An early morning meeting at the capital area EMS in Ballerup, just outside of Copenhagen, provided an insightful look into how operational work, situational awareness, and research are integrated into a unified system that handles the various urgent and acute medical needs of Copenhageners. The notably lower number of EMS missions compared to Finnish statistics was particularly interesting.
The workshop itself began with the customary presentation of the hosting nation’s EMS system. The Danish system relies on well-established access to General Practitioners, who are supported by the centralized medical helpline 1813 in the Copenhagen region during out-of-hours.
Data Gathering as a Key to Success
The group discussed the prepared data gathering sheet and its definitions. As we all know, defining the data set to be collected is the first crucial step in creating data that can be used for publishing and comparison.
Previous reports and workshops had already established a firm base for the data collection sheet, so the work mainly focused on important nuances, such as how to report data from different years and whether sub-national or regional data should be included if available.
For the data collection itself, we decided to keep things simple. Since the collection currently happens only annually, the data can be handled in separate spreadsheets and combined into a Nordic EMS database at THL. Future needs might require refining the data collection methods to be more modern and automated.
Shaping the Future of Nordic-Baltic Co-operation
During the summer, the project group was divided into smaller groups, with one group focusing on preparing for one of the project’s goals: forming a more permanent Nordic-Baltic EMS data co-operation. This co-operation will focus on sharing information, creating reports, and benchmarking as a network.
A short analysis of EMS networks in the Nordic and European regions revealed that there is room for forming a nation-level co-operative network focusing on EMS data and benchmarking. The small group explored possible tasks and funding for the network but concluded that the project group first needs to agree on the aims for such a network. Since the group had already met twice before, the discussion was vibrant and provided the small group with plenty of material to work with.
Setting Our Sights on the Report
Speaking of homework, the report that will conclude the Nordic-Baltic EMS project will provide everyone involved with plenty of opportunities to engage in our work outside of the workshops. The report structure was reviewed and discussed, and responsibilities for writing, refining, and commenting on each chapter were assigned to everyone. The editorial board of the report, which, to be honest, is a somewhat grandiose way of referring to two members of the project staff, will keep a firm eye on the progress.
We should see a first draft by the time the project group meets for the fourth workshop in late November in Tallinn, Estonia.
Viljami Lampilinna
Development manager
Finnish Institute for health and welfare
viljami.lampilinna(at)thl.fi
Blog posts from the previous workshops:
- Nordic-Baltic data co-operation in Emergency Medical Services (thl.fi)
- Nordic-Baltic EMS Data Co-operation and Benchmarking: A Progress Update (thl.fi)
This text has been refined with the help of Copilot, an AI language model.
