Rethinking emergency medical services (EMS)-results of an interdisciplinary expert panel on logistics in EMS

Emergency medical services (EMS) are well organized and assure a high level of care throughout Germany. However, the current structure of EMS is increasingly under pressure, especially against the backdrop of increasing numbers of calls, the aging population, and increasing challenges in recruiting staff. Therefore, rethinking of EMS structure is highly necessary. Operations research is a part of mathematics that exclusively works on optimization on logistic chains and processes. In this report the authors want to inform the community on the results of two workshops on "logistics in EMS" and second want to facilitate the discussion on this topic within the EMS community, to inform about potential challenges, and options for improvement.