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Operations & systems

One in five transports: brief stay, no intervention

Short hospital contacts without documented in-hospital intervention following emergency medical services transport in the Central Denmark Region: a population-based cohort study
BMJ Open · 2026-10-13 · Added 16 October 2026

Danish population-based cohort of 89,560 emergency calls found 19.1% of transported patients had a hospital stay of six hours or less with no documented in-hospital intervention, with short-term mortality of just 0.4% in that group.

Study type

Cohort

Design

Population-based cohort study

Participants

89,560 EMS-attended emergency calls, Central Denmark Region 2022–2023

Main finding

15.1% of patients were non-conveyed; among the 84.9% transported, 19.1% had a ≤6-hour stay with no documented procedure, medication or imaging, and short-term mortality was 0.4% versus 1.3% for stays over six hours

Caveat

Short-term (3-day) mortality only in a single Danish region, and a short stay without intervention doesn't necessarily mean the transport was unnecessary

Bottom line

Context only

Learning goal

Understand how low-acuity transports without documented intervention shape my conveyance decisions and alternative care pathways.

More

• Topic: Operations & systems
• Daily scan: 16 October 2026
• Podcast: Paramedic Papers Daily, 16 October 2026

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