Challenges to Prehospital Care in Honduras

Abstract

AbstractThrough a longitudinal field experience and interviews with rural and urban clinic workers in Honduras, the following data were collated regarding the challenges to prehospital Emergency Medical Services (EMS) in this country. In Honduras, both private and public organizations provide prehospital emergency care for citizens and face both financial and resource constraints. These constraints manifest in operational concerns such as challenges of integration of EMS systems with each other, differences in medical direction oversight, and barriers to public access. Despite the availability of public health care services, authorities and locals alike do not recommend using the public systems due to lack of needed resources and time of emergency response.Private volunteer EMS organizations are scattered throughout the country and each operates as their own separate system. There is no single dispatch center available, nor is there a guarantee that calling for EMS will result in the patient’s desired response. In this report, the challenges are discussed with possible solutions presented.BastHE, JenkinsJL. Challenges to prehospital care in Honduras. Prehosp Disaster Med. 2018;33(6):637–639.