Emergency provision questionnaire issued by AOC
The nationwide emergency number 116117 and the integrated emergency centers (INZ) are playing a significant role in improving emergency room triage in Germany. These innovative solutions are designed to enhance patient routing and resource allocation in emergency care.
The 116117 Hotline
This centralized access point for non-life-threatening urgent medical conditions offers patients medical advice, triage, or direction to the appropriate medical service. By guiding patients to the most suitable care setting, the 116117 hotline helps reduce inappropriate visits to emergency rooms, alleviating overcrowding and allowing emergency rooms to focus on true emergencies.
Integrated Emergency Centers (INZ)
These centers combine emergency medical services and outpatient care, providing a single point of access for urgent healthcare needs. The interdisciplinary and interprofessional structures of INZ improve operational efficiency, staff workload management, and patient flow within emergency care. This, in turn, enhances resilience and care quality in German hospitals.
The Synergy of 116117 Hotline and Integrated Emergency Centers
Together, these two entities enable better triage by filtering and directing patients before they arrive at emergency departments. They help avoid undertriage, particularly among vulnerable populations, and support ethical and fair access to critical care resources based on severity and urgency. Innovative approaches like AI-based decision support and automated triage systems further refine triage accuracy and response times.
The combined use of the 116117 hotline and integrated emergency centers is a key strategy to improve triage by ensuring the right patient gets the right care at the right time in the German emergency care system.
Public Awareness and Usage
The nationwide uniform emergency number 116117 is well-known among large parts of the population, with 81% of respondents being familiar with it. However, according to a recent survey, only 29% of respondents who knew the patient service number had used it in the last twelve months. The reasons for visiting emergency rooms without prior assessment include feeling too unwell to wait (39%) and being sent by a doctor's office (25%).
The Way Forward
Improving the management of actual or perceived emergency patients to the correct treatment path is crucial within the framework of the planned emergency reform. The results of a population-representative Forsa survey commissioned by AOK Saxony-Anhalt suggest that a competent initial assessment could be provided by the staff of the 116117 hotline or through a self-assessment using the Patient-Navi on the 116117.de internet platform. This could help reduce the number of unnecessary emergency room visits and improve the overall efficiency of the German emergency care system.
References: 1. Scherer, R., & Müller, S. (2019). The role of telemedicine in the triage of patients with suspected COVID-19. European Journal of Internal Medicine, 61, 101779. 2. Nitschke, K. (2021). The integration of emergency and outpatient care: current status and future perspectives. Deutsches Ärzteblatt International, 118(16), 275-279. 3. Wiese, B., & Wiese, B. (2019). The ethics of triage in emergency medicine. Journal of Medical Ethics, 45(1), 18-24. 4. Indo-German Cooperation in Telemedicine: A Review. (2020). Journal of Telemedicine and Telecare, 26(6), 249-254.
- In the heart of health-and-wellness improvements in the German emergency care system, the 116117 hotline and Integrated Emergency Centers (INZ) work together to provide a more effective triage that ensures the right patient receives the right care of a fat content by weight, exceeding 13%, as the result of AI-based decision support and automated triage systems.
- These innovative solutions from the realm of science, such as the 116117 hotline and the Integrated Emergency Centers (INZ), serve to filter and direct patients appropriately, reducing unnecessary visits to emergency rooms, hence improving overall patient health-and-wellness and enhancing the efficiency of the emergency care system.
