Pt calling an ambulance from a hospital ER?

[iMac]

Thats quite funny. I have never personally had that call. Most of the patients I have had are farmers and will wait until they are dying to decide they might actually need an ambulance, or it's the natives(no offence) on the reserves who want a free cab ride in town and are out the Emerg door before we even get a chance to re-arrange the truck.

On many occasions I have heard of patients complain because they thought if they had come in by ambulance they would have been seen quicker which is as we all know, false. Others complain because even when they come in by ambulance they get thrown in the waiting room and waited for many, many, many, many hours :wink:

What a waste of staff and equipment

[WelshMedic]

[Richard B the EMT]

1) We used to have a patient, who, every time he had an argument with his wive, he'd call 9-1-1. He lived just down the street from a local ED. On several occasions that I know about, he'd call, be seen and transported by the nearest EMS unit to the ED, and then go back home again to call 9-1-1, because he felt he had not been seen quickly enough in the ED! At least he had a diagnosed cardiac condition.

2) There are several patients in extended care facilities, who bypass the staff at those facilities, by using the payphones at those facilities to call 9-1-1. Staff is usually surprised to find the EMS at the lobby desk.

3) NYC 9-1-1 only accepts inter-hospital requests for transfers from EDs that call directly into the dispatch center, not via 9-1-1, and has to be cleared by the communications center commander, and the on-duty medical control doctor.