Background: Fairness is an important and controversial issue when allocating public resources. People need to be arrived early to the hospitals when they are injured in traffic accidents. Both the mean and equity of the time of arriving to the hospital are important. The aim of this study was to investigate of equity in arrival time of emergent accidental patient to hospital in 2018-2019 in a city in North of Iran.
Methods: This study was a Descriptive-analytical study. In this study we extracted the information from Guilan province trauma system data for Poursina Hospital in Rasht in 2018 and 2019. Data included information on age, sex, level of education, place of residence, time of transfer from the scene of the accident to the hospital, type of vehicle, marriage and occupation. The Gini coefficient was used to calculate equity in access to pre-hospital emergency services and regression models were estimated for inequity in time to receive hospital services.
Results: The study showed that the mean and standard deviation of patients' arrival time from the time of the accident to the time of arrival at the hospital was 64.48 ± 47.63 minutes (minimum 9 minutes and maximum 462 minutes). Gini coefficient was 0.31 (p <0.001) which shows in the Rasht city has a relative and appropriate equity when the patient arrives. The contribution of each factor using the regression model indicated the existence of a part of the inequity due to the way the patient was transferred. The transfer time of patients by car was 40 minutes longer (p-value <0.001) and by other methods (except ambulance and car) was 26 minutes longer (p = 0.036). In children, the transfer time was 42 minutes less (p = 0.003). Other variables did not explain the inequity (p> 0.05)
Conclusion: According to the time of arrival of patients and Gini index, in Rasht, equity in providing services is in a good condition. This indicates that the emergency department does not systematically transport people to the hospital late.