The provision of emergency medical services is a public-sector remit involving risk prevention and the supply of medical care (medical provision and care services). The organisation and running of the emergency medical services fails within the legislative competence of the Länder which are also the bodies responsible for providing these services, in as far as these are not transferred to the districts and to the towns which are administrative districts in their own right. The emergency medical service laws of the Länder contain details of what is required of the emergency medical services with regard to the practical aspects and the personnel. The emergency medical services are based on the emergency medical service laws and must be structured so that an areawide service which meets the demand is guaranteed. There are many questions which arise from this situation which must be solved by the competent ministries in the Länder and by the local bodies responsible for the emergency medical services. The aim of the present research project is the elaboration of practical aids to decision-making and advice for the responsible bodies and for the providers of the emergency medical services. In addition to this the results should not represent aids for the planning and organisation of emergency medical services which meet the requirements of a particular Land alone; they should rather contribute generally to the discussion of quality assurance in the emergency medical services sector. The research project encompasses three independent research topics: Part I: development of rescue communication centre disposition areas which meet demand; Part II: the organisation of the emergency physician services taking into account the possibilities of collaborating with physicians in private practices; and Part III: the design of a requirement profile for a ,,Leader of an Emergency Medical Services Deployment Unit". The three topic areas investigated are all of great relevance to the current situation in the whole of Germany. The optimisation of the disposition areas of EMS communication centres and also the inclusion of physicians with private practices in the ground units of the emergency physician service are of great public interest. The discussion regarding the function, position and financing of the “Medical Leader of an EMS Deployment Unit" is not yet complete. The experiences of the Länder which already have this or a comparable position should be included in the further considerations regarding this post. Appendices are attached to the original report in which the questionnaires and data on the organisational structure of the emergency physician services of Saxony and Saxony-Anhalt in 1995 and Bavaria in 1992 are brought together. The present publication does not contain the appendices. They may, however, be consulted at the Federal Highway Research Institute. References to the appendices were therefore retained in the report. (Author/publisher)
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