US: Want an Ambulance? Too Bad
April 23rd, 2009 | Published in World News | 1 Comment
City Hall may dictate whether or not you need an ambulance in an emergency situation. A recent proposal by City Controller Alan Butkovitz calls for nurses to be placed in Philadelphia’s 911 call center to give care over the phone for non-emergencies, in an effort to save the city millions of dollars.
“You’re going to have City Hall bureaucrats determining who gets health care? God forbid something terrible happens. The city would be exposed to tremendous liability,” Brett Mandel, Butkovitz’s opponent in May’s Democratic primary election told the Philadelphia Daily News.
Butkovitz claims the plan would lead to faster ambulance response times, save 19,000 EMS trips annually and save the city up to $2.6 million a year, according to the paper.
Patient care would be “prioritized” based on severity—those needing immediate attention, those who can wait and those who can be “persuaded” not to ask for an ambulance at all, the paper reported.
Read full article: NBC Philadelphia
April 23rd, 2009at 10:20(#)
This is common practise in the UK. Many trusts employ a ‘clinical adviser’ – usually a paramedic, technician or nurse, who screens CAT C calls. They can decide to hold off on sending a response and contact the caller to give clinical advice over the phone. In SECAmb it’s called PSIAM.