Outcomes and emergency medical services resource utilization among patients with syncope arriving to the emergency department by ambulance.

CLINICIAN'S CAPSULEWhat is known about the topic?A majority of syncope patients are transported to the emergency department by emergency medical services (EMS), yet only a small proportion are admitted or suffer serious adverse events (SAE).What did this study ask?What proportion of EMS syncope patient transports are at low risk (i.e., absence of EMS interventions, hospitalization, and SAE)?What did this study find?This prospective cohort study found that 40% of syncope transports are at low risk.Why does this study matter to clinicians?This group of patients represents potentially avoidable transports once a clinical decision tool is developed with a substantial opportunity cost for EMS systems.