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Scene times....


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Good morning!

I havent stirred the pot here in awhile. Time to give it a try.

What is an acceptable scene time? What is the boundary between acceptable and too long?

Can you even define too long? Can there even be a definable amount of time?

I've always thought 25 minutes was the longest time, outside of special circumstances.

Thoughts? Comments?

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Unfortunately, most calls end up with "special circumstances". There is way too frequently a large monkey wrench that gets pitched in.

Both regions where I work, strongly suggest 10 minutes for a trauma and 20 minutes for a medical. Not that we really care about that, but it's usually around 20 minutes for an ALS call, slightly less for a BLS call.

I occasionally do some math, and MY calls (BLS calls where I am in charge) are averaging about 19 minutes from dispatch to arrival (and available) at the hospital.

When I trust my partner to do ALS care, we are on scene for usually right around 20 minutes. And that includes usually a patient family problem, and stair chairing them out.

I think that about 20 minutes is normal for a standard ALS or BLS call.

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It truly depends on the situation at hand.

Urban/rural, short/long transport times, patient stability, system abilities, the list goes on and on.

In my situation, with a 40+ minute transport time, and typically fairly sick patients, I don't like being on scene for more than 15 minutes if I can help it. 20-25 minutes is not unreasonable, but the situation has to dictate it.

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In my situation, with a 40+ minute transport time

Where in AZ do you work? I work in Fountian Hills where we have a response time of 8-10 min and a transport of at least 20. Because of this we try to do as much as possible en-route. I often however work in Pinal County and have 40+ min transports as well.

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We shoot for 20-25 Minutes Maximum on the scene of a "medical" in the home, residential care, etc... and 20 minutes or less at the scene of a trauma unless extrication is involved. Keep in mind that's what we shoot for... I think the average is about 22 for each. We're rural, so we have a 20 minute to and from time if we're anywhere outside the county seat. 20 minutes there, 20-22 minutes onscene, and 20 minute to the ER, eats up your Golden Hour pretty quick.

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Dolan Springs, 40 miles from Kingman, 60--give or take--from Las Vegas.

Our catchment area is one of the biggest in the state.

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We are gigged on anything over 20min. I usually do most everything in the truck and if were more than 10 min from the ED I'll usually tell my partner to go ahead and drive easy towards the ED and do my IV and everything else enroute to hospital. I've sat on scenes with other medics with unstable pt's before while they looked for and IV site and stuck 2 or 3 times when were 30 miles from the ED. Not cool! I would just rather do my stuff enroute if were a good way off.........623

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By the way, been away from the site about 4 months but still good to see some things have't changed.....623

We could never change that one...my goodness! :twisted: :twisted:

alot of variant responses here. Does any employer "gig" you on going beyond a certain scene time?

BTW, when I say "scene" time, I mean from your on scene time to your transporting to hospital time...

PRPG

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Medical direction usually wants an explanation for extended scene times, and employers usually fall into line behind them.

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