Nordic-Baltic EMS Report 2025: Benchmarking for Better Collaboration
Facing shared challenges such as aging populations, evolving acute health services, and rising social and mental health-related missions, the Nordic countries and Estonia have joined forces to publish the 3rd Nordic-Baltic Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Report. This collaborative effort aims to foster mutual learning and system-level development through comparable data.
Comparable Data: A Foundation for Progress
Over the past 18 months, experts from the Nordic countries and Estonia have worked together to compile the latest edition of the Nordic-Baltic EMS Report. The report includes detailed descriptions of each country’s EMS system, national indicators, and the Nordic-Baltic EMS Quality and Benchmarking Indicators, originally developed during the 2014–2018 project and updated in 2021. This latest edition incorporates data up to 2023, collected using the shared quality and benchmarking indicators (QIs).
Collaboration began in January 2024 and involved six workshops, task-specific working groups, and national data collection efforts. Early in the process, participants emphasized the value of this regional cooperation. One of the most significant benefits was the ability to benchmark national EMS and acute care systems with each other, revealing both striking differences and encouraging similarities.
For instance, QI11: Emergency number calls, QI12: Incidents, and QI13: EMS missions per 1,000 capita are two to three times higher in Finland and Estonia compared to Denmark, highlighting fundamental differences in accessing primary care. Conversely, QI7: Return of Spontaneous Circulation (ROSC) rates among resuscitated patients were consistently between 31–35% across all countries, suggesting shared standards of care and practices.
Data Quality and Shared Understanding
While data collection and interpretation were largely handled at the national level, much of the workshops' time was dedicated to ensuring data quality and consistency. This included refining terminology, revisiting the original indicators, and rebranding them to emphasize benchmarking. Achieving a shared understanding of each QI was essential, and although minor issues arose during data submission, they were quickly resolved. On the other hand, Chapter 5 which presents each country's Top 20 Reasons for EMS Contact, exemplifies the report’s evolving nature and commitment to patient-centered data as we wanted to make that data public although it is still a work-in-progress.
Unlike previous editions, the 2025 report is a living, online resource that will be regularly updated. The Nordic-Baltic EMS Network plans to refresh the 2024 data in already during autumn 2025, with more content and insights to follow.
The Nordic-Baltic EMS Network
The success of this collaboration led to the formation of the Nordic-Baltic EMS Network as a permanent forum for strategic EMS development. While previous reports were project-based, the Network ensures continuity and deeper cooperation. Comprising national experts focused on system-level improvement, the Network prioritizes data collection, interpretation, and the development of actionable proposals based on shared challenges and best practices.
The Network is open and inclusive, aiming to expand its reach in the future to encompass the autonomous Nordic regions and the Baltic states of Latvia and Lithuania. Interested professionals are invited to join the Nordic-Baltic EMS Network LinkedIn group (link below), fostering a community of data-driven EMS enthusiasts across the region and beyond.
Looking Ahead
Upcoming priorities include identifying and addressing EMS “heavy users”, the patients who disproportionately utilize EMS and emergency services, and sharing effective strategies for managing these cases. The Network also plans to develop a common data concept model to enable future patient-level comparisons across countries and alignment with the U.S. NEMSIS dataset, which includes over 60 million EMS missions.
The work continues this autumn, and feedback on the Nordic-Baltic EMS Report 2025 is warmly welcomed at ensihoito(at)thl.fi.
Nordic-Baltic EMS Report 2025 is available as an online publication and downloadable in PDF format in:
Nordic and Baltic EMS data, quality indicators and benchmarking (yhteistyotilat.fi)
Further information:
Viljami Lampilinna,
Development manager
viljami.lampilinna(at)thl.fi
Join the Nordic-Baltic EMS Network LinkedIn group to get connected
