Save 1-2 million patients in 2009 ??

[spenac]

I tried to read through this thread again. I couldn't do it.

How can you bring up all of these numbers.... 99% this.... 5% this... 1,000,000 that. $5 here, $50,000 there....

WITH OUT CITING ANY SOURCES?

Well 97.342516% tend to agree with your finding brent.

[Arizonaffcep]

I tried to read through this thread again. I couldn't do it.

How can you bring up all of these numbers.... 99% this.... 5% this... 1,000,000 that. $5 here, $50,000 there....

WITH OUT CITING ANY SOURCES?

My biggest beef with Crotch...never cites sources for info...and the one time he did, it was an advertisement! (Hopefully) I was able to counter his crap a little with the percentages and stuff--all of which I cited resources...

[Mateo_1387]

Mine go something like this.

Patient---- I need to go to the hospital

Burned out Medic---- What for?

Patient---- Well...earlier today I stubbed my toe, and it hurts still. I want to be seen.

Burned out Medic---- Well Sir, we would be happy to take you (shakes head "no" while speaking)

Patient---- Well, I guess I could take myself...

Burned out Medic--Sir, we would be happy to take you (shakes head "no" while speaking), but, if you like, you can take yourself (shakes head "yes")

Patient---- I just don't know if I should go now?

Burned out Medic---- You should (shakes head "no")

Patient---- Well, then I will just go with you.

Burned out Medic---- We'd be happy to take you (shakes head 'no') but if you want to go on your own, that will be just fine (vigorously shakes head "yes")

Patient---- Ok, I'll just take myself.

Burned out Medic---- Thank you sir, sign right here....

[Arizonaffcep]

Burned out Medic---- Thank you sir, sign right here....

It must be the grin (reference avatar)

[Mateo_1387]

It must be the grin (reference avatar)

You know it !

[crotchitymedic1986]

Paramedic to nurse: Can you please witness me wasting this morphine ?

Nurse: I guess, why do you need a witness ?

Medic: It's our policy

Nurse: Dont they trust you where you work

Medic I guess not

Nurse: Have you ever abused drugs

Medic No

Nurse: Have you ever had a drug discrepancy

Medic: No

Nurse: Are you incompetent or new

Medic: Nope, been a medic 20 years

For those who are too lazy to read: The supervisor doesnt have to come to the scene, he/she just has to call the patient to verify that it is a refusal. This is a small percentage of calls, it is not every call. And the fact that you know a supervisor will have to get involved, will likely pressure the lazy medic to do the job he is supposed to do and transport the patient. If you dont have a supervisor it could be the senior medic on-duty, but if you are too small to have a supervisor, then your call volume is probably low enough that this doesnt matter. THis type of negligent patient care usually occurs in high-volume urban 911 systems.

[spenac]

Crotch drug wasting witnessing is a completely unrelated subject.

A supervisor does not need to be called. 93.9876543210% of all medics do their job properly. Fire the other just over 6% and problem solved.

If a patient does not need to go to the hospital there is no need to convince them to refuse, just deny them transport. Then write up as a denial. If patient needs to go to the hospital but refuses then let them sign refusal and we go help people that needs us and want us.

IMHO you have shown that you were not a paramedic but probably someone that hates paramedics, possibly a fire emt, that or your experience was for the worst service in the world.

[crotchitymedic1986]

Well you are entitled to your opinion. The fact of the matter is, all services have policies to protect the patient, the employees, and the service. Often times, those policies seem insulting to the medics in the field. Your service may have a policy regarding using a backer on the ground, narcotic waste, inventorying the truck, helicopter usage, trauma center usage, or even what kind of uniform you wear and how long your hair can be. All of which, seem stupid to someone in your service.

This would be a policy to protect patients, and I have no doubt that many see it as unnecessary, just as I see narcotic waste witnessing as stupid (how does the nurse know you have morphine instead of saline in that syringe) ?

I have said all I can say on the subject, you either agree or disagree. I have no further comment.

[akflightmedic]

Drug wasting has set rules by the FEDERAL GOVERNMENT (DEA) with further guidelines imposed by individual states.

Find a different argument that is relevant.

[crotchitymedic1986]

OK, final comment: Pick any other policy you dont like at your work. Do you enjoy backing a truck in the rain ? No. Have you ever backed into something, probably not. But you have a policy to protect the truck and other people's property, even though you may have the most expert drivers in the world, who have had EVOC, and may not have even had a backing accident in the last year.

This policy is the same. Maybe you have only one idiot or lazy medic who would try to talk someone out of going to that distant hospital at 3am in your service.

There is no harm done unless you are that lazy medic who has spent 20 minutes talking the patient out of going, and then you hand the phone to your patient, and they tell the supervisor "No, I am not refusing, they told me I dont need to go".

The flip side is if it is a true refusal, then you have more evidence that you tried to get them to go, and they did infact refuse.

This is simply looking at something that does exist in EMS (like in DC), that is problem prone if not handled correctly. You will rarely get sued by the patients you transport. It is the ones that you do not transport that will get you in trouble.

The only reason to be upset by this policy is:

a. You are offended by having a supervisor involved in your call.

b. You are mad because in this scenario, you will have to transport more patients than you did in the past.

If you are doing your job as you should, and your patient is truly refusing, then this is just another layer of protection for you.