Modeling the Impact of Inbound Call Distribution Virtualization in Emergency Medical Communication Centers (EMCCs) on Their Service Level

Status

Completed

Phases

Unknown

Study type

Observational

Source

ClinicalTrials.gov

Registry ID

NCT04670835

Acronym

CALL_SAMU

Enrollment

1088000

Registered

2020-12-17

Start date

2021-04-15

Completion date

2022-02-28

Last updated

2026-06-24

For informational purposes only — not medical advice. Sourced from public registries and may not reflect the latest updates. Terms

Conditions

Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems, Health Care

Keywords

Emergency health service, Accessibility, Virtualization, organization

Brief summary

Fast access to the Emergency Medical Communication Center (EMCC) is essential for the population in emergency situation. It is therefore essential that these call centers operate quickly and provide good quality service. However, in recent years, EMCCs have experienced a constant and increasing demand from the population. Thus, maintaining the current organization of emergency medical communication centers raises questions about both the volume of incoming calls to EMCCs and the economic constraints, which make it difficult to manage call peaks, especially in periods of crisis. The aim of our study is to assess the impact of incoming call distribution virtualization in EMCCs on their service quality.

Detailed description

France is facing political decisions on the evolution of Emergency Medical Communication Center organization to improve population accessibility. Regarding the performance targets requested by the French government (MARCUS report: http://www.urgences113.fr/marcus/Rapport\_MARCUS3.pdf), the virtualization of inbound call distribution could improve EMCC service quality indicators. The Virtualization is a process that consists of centralizing calls from different territories before distributing them to the centers concerned according to their availability. The objective through this process is to improve the population' access to the EMCC by reducing waits time. And on the other hand, to optimize the activity rate of dispatchers and physicians.

Interventions

None listed

Study design

Observational model

CASE_ONLY

Time perspective

RETROSPECTIVE

Eligibility

Sex/Gender

ALL

Healthy volunteers

Inclusion criteria

* All incoming calls passing through the five Emergency Medical Centers in the Pays de la Loire region (Loire-Atlantique, Maine-et-Loire, Mayenne, Sarthe and Vendée). In each center, an advanced telephone system automatically keeps track of all inbound calls.

Exclusion criteria

According to the French national consortium, incoming calls that hung up in less than 10 seconds are considered as dialing errors and are excluded

Design outcomes

Primary

Measure	Time frame	Description
Operational level of service, defined by the quality of service at 20 s (QS20). It corresponds to the rate of answered calls within 20 s	20 seconds	This indicator is one of the most frequently used internationally to measure the performance of emergency call centers

Countries

France

Contacts

PRINCIPAL_INVESTIGATORYann Penverne, MD

Nantes University Hospital

Outcome results