THE IMPORTANCE OF TERRITORIAL EMERGENCY MEDICINE THE ROLE OF ITALIAN SET-118 DURING THE COVID-19 PANDEMIC, A MULTIDISCIPLINARY APPROACH TO FACE THE NEXT PANDEMIC CATASTROPHE

M.G. Balzanelli¹ , P. Distratis² , R. Lazzaro¹ , G. Dipalma³, F. Inchingolo³, K.C.D. Nguyen² , T.C. Tran⁴ , C. Gargiulo Isacco⁵

¹ 118 SET, Department of Pre-hospital and Emergency, SG Giuseppe Moscati Hospital, 74120 Taranto, Italy
² Department of Interdisciplinary Medicine, Section of Microbiology and Virology and Section of Odonto-Stomatology, School of Medicine, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”
³ Department of Interdisciplinary Medicine, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”, Bari, Italy
⁴ Pham Cong Thach University of Medicine, Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
⁵ Department of Interdisciplinary Medicine, Section of Microbiology and Virology and Section of Odonto-Stomatology; School of Medicine, University of Bari “Aldo Moro”

Correspondence to:

Journal of Orthopedics 2024 January-April; 16(1): 9-18

Received: 19 February 2024 Accepted: 24 March 2024

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Abstract

In Italy, patients in life-threatening emergencies are primarily managed by the 118 emergency service and pre-hospital medical facilities. Taking charge begins with the centralized reception of calls, which allows the dispatch of medical supplies and emergency medical assistance on-site before hospital care. The 118 services ensure that medical and paramedical units are often the first on-site. At the same time, the professional skills of the sending doctor are essential to ascertain the patient’s clinical condition, preserve their vital functions, ensuring appropriate emergency health care in nearby hospital facilities. During the COVID-19 pandemic, the first aid service has shown critical issues: extremely limited medical facilities in some areas of the country, fewer volunteers and doctors, hospital reorganization, limited funding, and poor skills of “first on scene” responders. This has spotlighted equal healthcare opportunities for all and the need for more qualified medical training, especially for emergency healthcare personnel, such as assistants, paramedics, and drivers. COVID-19 has prompted an improvement in the efficiency of the system, with a plan to achieve the goals and the implementation of an emergency services network with different degrees of emergency healthcare management. In our experience, following the COVID-19 pandemic, the level of emergency healthcare has opened the need to operate with high-level equipment managed by highly qualified emergency personnel, also considering the issues related to post-pandemic problems, such as the “long COVID” syndrome. This paper has highlighted the strategic importance of 118 at the national level during the recent pandemic, highlighting the efforts and countermeasures adopted by the SET 118 of the city of Taranto.

Keywords: 118 SET Taranto ASL, COVID-19, Emergency Medicine, Long Covid, SARS-CoV-2, single nucleotide polymorphisms-SNPs