From accident to hospital: measuring inequality in pre-hospital emergency services in a city in the North of Iran

Purpose As a human right, people need to arrive early at the hospitals when they are injured in traffic accidents. Both the mean and equality of the time of arriving at the hospital are important. This study aimed to investigate inequality in arrival time of emergent traffic accident patients to the hospital in 2018–2019 in a city in the North of Iran. Design/methodology/approach The authors extracted the data from the Guilan province trauma system databank in Poursina Hospital in Rasht in 2018 and 2019. The Gini coefficient was used to calculate inequality, and a regression model was estimated for determining the reason for inequality in time to receive hospital services. Findings The study showed that patients’ arrival time from the time of the accident to the time of arrival to the hospital was 64.48 ± 47.63 min (minimum of 9 min and maximum 462 min). Gini coefficient was 0.31 (p <0.001), which does not show high inequality. Regression results showed that the transfer time of patients by car was 40 min longer (p-value <0.001) than ambulances (p = 0.036). In children, the transfer time was 42 min less (p = 0.003). Other variables did not explain the inequality (p > 0.05). Originality/value According to the time of arrival of patients and Gini index, in Rasht, inequality in providing services is not in a bad condition. This indicates that the emergency department does not systematically transport people to the hospital late.