Empirical Analysis of Ambulance Travel Times: The Case of Calgary Emergency Medical Services

Susan Budge (), Armann Ingolfsson () and Dawit Zerom ()
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Susan Budge: School of Business, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R6, Canada
Armann Ingolfsson: School of Business, University of Alberta, Edmonton, Alberta T6G 2R6, Canada

Management Science, 2010, vol. 56, issue 4, 716-723

Abstract: Using administrative data for high-priority calls in Calgary, Alberta, we estimate how ambulance travel times depend on distance. We find that a logarithmic transformation produces symmetric travel-time distributions with heavier tails than those of a normal distribution. Guided by nonparametric estimates of the median and coefficient of variation, we demonstrate that a previously proposed model for mean fire engine travel times is a valid and useful description of median ambulance travel times. We propose a new specification for the coefficient of variation, which decreases with distance. We illustrate how the resulting travel-time distribution model can be used to create probability-of-coverage maps for diagnosis and improvement of system performance.

Keywords: ambulance service; probability-of-coverage map; nonparametric; travel (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2010
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Citations: View citations in EconPapers (20)

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