Whats the deal with nursing home 911 calls? Heard recently - Armstrong Ambulance Service handling a nursing home ALS call in Brighton - Patriot Ambulance Service handling a nursing home ALS call in North Andover with Lawrence P2.
Apparently Mass State Law or OEMS regulations allow a nursing home to call a private ambulance instead of 911 for ALS calls. Lets think this through. What is best for the patient? There probably is a nurse with the patient - hopefully a full RN. She / he might even be ALS certified / trained whatever. The RN can start an IV - might be able to put in a endotrachael tube - maybe can give drugs on standing orders. The only other thing that is needed is a transport unit (ambulance) to take the patient to a hospital. Apparently the RN cannot leave the facility unprotected, so the RN cannot go in the ambulance to the hospital with the patient. And EMTs are apparently not allowed to take a patient with an IV (???). Next - we have to calculate how long will it take to get an ALS unit and a BLS unit to the nursing home? Is there a major difference between the private unit response time and the public unit response time? (In many citys - perhaps the city unit is a private unit). If it only takes 5 minutes more for the private units to arrive at the nursing home, and it prevents alot of moaning and groaning from the municipal ambulance crews - then maybe it is better to call the private units. Comment ??? Corrections ???? (PS - is this really more about $$$ than anything else?) -- You received this message because you are subscribed to the Google Groups "massfire" group. To post to this group, send email to [email protected]. To unsubscribe from this group, send email to [email protected]. For more options, visit this group at http://groups.google.com/group/massfire?hl=en.
