NSW Ambulance data collections contain operational information from the Computer Aided Dispatch (CAD) system, and also data documented by clinicians in the paper-based Patient Health Care Record (PHCR) and electronic medical record (eMR). Clinical information includes patient vital signs.

NSW Ambulance datasets capture information for emergency and urgent episodes of care for NSW Ambulance patients who: were transported to a hospital; were left at a scene following clinician assessment; or, who died at the scene. NSW Ambulance clinicians respond to more than one million emergency and non-emergency cases every year.

Data collected during the patient care episode are recorded by paramedics in either the PHCR or eMR. This includes information about the incident (e.g. reason for call and scene location), patient information (e.g. demographics, injury/illness characterisation, vital signs and assessment results), treatment details (e.g. pharmacology and interventions), and outcomes (e.g. transported, not transported, died). Paramedics complete a clinical record for all incidents including inter-hospital/facility transfers. Clinical records are required, even if there is no patient contact, for all road traffic incidents, for incidents where the patient cannot be found or has left the scene, or where services are not required. Cases where a patient is already deceased prior to paramedics’ arrival are also documented. Since its staged introduction in 2011, the eMR is the preferred clinical record. The PHCR is completed by paramedics only in the absence of an eMR. At the time of writing, Extended Care Paramedics, volunteers and single responders only use the PHCR. The PHCR is also used in some regional areas. Unlike the PHCR, the eMR directs compulsory completion of some screens/fields.

NSW Ambulance datasets capture information for emergency and urgent episodes of care for NSW Ambulance patients who: were transported to a hospital; were left at a scene following clinician assessment; or, who died at the scene.

NSW state data

Health Records Information and Privacy Act 2002

Privacy and Personal Information Protection Act 1998

Health Administration Act 1982

Public Health Act 2010