Overview of Ambulance Transport Utilization: Scoping Review

Background: The demand for ambulance transports has increased by 29.2% worldwide. This rise necessitates system improvements and standardization. There are differences in prehospital transport ambulance services utilization between developed and developing countries. Objective: Review aims to describe utilization of ambulance transports in developed and developing countries. Methods: Scoping review method was conducted based on 5 databases: ScienceDirect, PubMed, ClinicalKey, Cochrane, SpringerLink, and hand-searching on Google. Results: Inclusion criteria were original articles, in English and Indonesian, published in last 5 years (2019-2024), open access, available in full text, review yielded 2,739 articles, 6 articles meeting criteria for analysis, 2 additional articles identified through hand searching. Conclusion: There are differences in ambulance transport usage between developed and developing countries. In developed countries, most transport ambulances are used for prehospital emergency care, primarily for trauma cases. In contrast, most ambulance transport in developing countries is used for inter-facility referrals, primarily for medical emergencies. In developing countries, not all patients receive prehospital care, if they do, it is often limited to basic aid, whereas in developed countries, prehospital care can include advanced aid. Review highlights differences between developed and developing countries in ambulance transport utilization and services.