The current evidence regarding the state and evolution of emergency care (EC) in Slovakia, including the needs of both patients and healthcare personnel, remains poorly understood. Thus, this study aimed to map existing literature regarding emergency care encounters, with an emphasis on the current state of emergency care services (ECS) in Slovakia. We also aimed to identify barriers and enablers in efficient EC, as well as healthcare professionals’ and users’ perspectives in ECS. We searched the grey literature and literature published in scientific databases, including Web of Science, PubMed, CINAHL, Embase, and Cochrane Library between 2015 and 2025. This review identified 33 sources that focus on the current state and efficiency of ECS. We derived the six main themes, including: 1) systemic factors, 2) patient-related factors, 3) misuse of ECS, 4) factors influencing satisfaction of EC staff, 5) factors influencing satisfaction of patients with ECS, and 6) the role of emergency support applications in ECS. Of those, a total of 14 subthemes emerged: a) challenges in tertiary and postgraduate education, b) demographic and migration crisis in primary care affecting EC, c) inadequate compensation and work-life imbalance, d) lack of experienced staff, e) lack of resources and poor infrastructure, f) lack of data, g) legislative challenges, h) misalignment between outpatient EC and pharmaceutical EC, i) long handover times in EC, j) long waiting times for appointment in primary care, k) patients reluctance to wait, l) population aging, m) vulnerable populations, and n) lack of patients’ health literacy. We were able to identify the concrete challenges to efficient EC. Our review found that most barriers to efficient EC stemmed from systemic factors. However, more studies with a high level of evidence are essential to deepen our understanding of the current state of ECS in Slovakia. Future policies are then required to identify optimal ways to implement this evidence.
Timková et al. (2026) studied this question.