C-med radio talk

[Crystal42]

Hello,

I don't know if anyone does the same thing but I'm having trouble giving C-MED patches. Does anyone have ideas or advice for practicing or learning this quick? PLEASE HELP!!!

 

[Brandon O]

What trouble?

(For non-Massers, CMED is the Mass EMS/hospital notification and coordination system.)

 

[Gurby]

Practice practice practice. Practice giving your reports while driving in your car. Think back to calls you've done, and just give the reports over and over until you can do them perfectly.

It can also help to write them out to figure out what order you want to say things in, etc. It's a good idea to be systematic about it, and always go in the same order.

You: Northeast CMED Northeast CMED, BillyJoe Ambulance 62 requesting a BLS entry note to the Podunk Hospital, coming from Salem
CMED: BillyJoe, go to med 52 that's med 5-2 for the Podunk
You: Received thank you, 52 for the Podunk

*change radio to 52*

You: BillyJoe on 52
Podunk Hospital: Podunk online, go ahead BillyJoe
You: Good afternoon Podunk, this is BillyJoe ambulance 62 en route to you BLS priority 3 with a 92 that's 9-2 year old female, complaining of lethargy for 2 weeks. Patient is A+Ox4, denies chest pain denies shortness of breath, vital signs stable and we'll see you in 5 minutes. Any questions or concerns?

or:

Good afternoon Podunk, this is BillyJoe ambulance 62 en route to you BLS priority 1 with a 44 that's 4-4 year old male patient complaining of chest pain for 1 hour. Patient is A+Ox4, describes the pain as 10/10 crushing chest pain. Patient denies cardiac history but does have significant family history. Blood pressure is 96/62 with a heart rate of 118, satting 96 on room air, skin is cool and pale. Patient has received 324 of aspirin from us. We'll see you in 8 minutes, any questions or concerns?

 

[DesertMedic66]

Practice practice practice. Practice giving your reports while driving in your car. Think back to calls you've done, and just give the reports over and over until you can do them perfectly.

It can also help to write them out to figure out what order you want to say things in, etc. It's a good idea to be systematic about it, and always go in the same order.

You: Northeast CMED Northeast CMED, BillyJoe Ambulance 62 requesting a BLS entry note to the Podunk Hospital, coming from Salem
CMED: BillyJoe, go to med 52 that's med 5-2 for the Podunk
You: Received thank you, 52 for the Podunk

*change radio to 52*

You: BillyJoe on 52
Podunk Hospital: Podunk online, go ahead BillyJoe
You: Good afternoon Podunk, this is BillyJoe ambulance 62 en route to you BLS priority 3 with a 92 that's 9-2 year old female, complaining of lethargy for 2 weeks. Patient is A+Ox4, denies chest pain denies shortness of breath, vital signs stable and we'll see you in 5 minutes. Any questions or concerns?

or:

Good afternoon Podunk, this is BillyJoe ambulance 62 en route to you BLS priority 1 with a 44 that's 4-4 year old male patient complaining of chest pain for 1 hour. Patient is A+Ox4, describes the pain as 10/10 crushing chest pain. Patient denies cardiac history but does have significant family history. Blood pressure is 96/62 with a heart rate of 118, satting 96 on room air, skin is cool and pale. Patient has received 324 of aspirin from us. We'll see you in 8 minutes, any questions or concerns?

Wait, you have to go over a radio channel for them to give you a radio channel to call the hospital? That seems a little unnecessary

 

[Tigger]

Wait, you have to go over a radio channel for them to give you a radio channel to call the hospital? That seems a little unnecessary

Yes. Why the hospitals do not have their own channels never quite made sense to me?

To the OP, think about what you want to say first. Maybe right the first few down. And keep it short, if you don't provide enough info the hospital will request it.

 

[DesertMedic66]

My only advise is to think about what you want to say before you say it. I still use a paper PCR on calls because it helps me be consistent with call ins. Maybe ask a MICN for a copy of the sheet they use when receiving a call in.

Aside from that I can't help too much, 99.9% of our calls ins are made via cell phone. Radio calls in seem to be a different breed.

 

[NomadicMedic]

Yes. Why the hospitals do not have their own channels never quite made sense to me?

To the OP, think about what you want to say first. Maybe right the first few down. And keep it short, if you don't provide enough info the hospital will request it.

As some background, original med patches were coordinated through a dispatch center which connected the ambulance on UHF radio to a hospital, usually by phone lines. There were multiple med channels assigned to each region to avoid congestion. That is for systems that use the UHF standardized med channels. Anotherstandardized nationwide system on VHF 155.34 was set up as HEAR (hospital emergency ambulance radio). UHF med radios are still frequently used in the Northeast, HEAR seems to be common on the West Coast. Of course, there are a myriad of other systems as well.

Many protocols actually specify what should be in the radio report.

At minimum, the unit number, your care level, age and chief complaint of the patient, specific pertinent findings and vital signs,interventions you performed, a request for any orders or more information and your ETA.

Hi there Smithville hospital, it's paramedic 1722 on Med 6, inbound with a 90-year-old male. He's been complaining of shortness of breath all night and it's gotten progressively worse, he's currently out of his albuterol. No chest pain or any other complaint. Heart rate of 120, no ectopy or ST changes, BP of 140/72, respirations 26 with a constricted capnography waveform. He's currently receiving 5 mg of albuterol and 0.5 mg of ipratroprium via nebulizer and experiencing some relief. We're about 10 minutes out, any questions or orders for me?

The Doc, who usually within earshot o the radio can hear what's coming, and knows that I'm bringing in a COPD exacerbation which is responding to medication as opposed to a intubated respiratory patient who will require a significantly larger amount of resources and intervention on my arrival. It's really just to give them a heads up as to what you're bringing in and provide orders or med control if needed.

 

[Brandon O]

Yes. Why the hospitals do not have their own channels never quite made sense to me

There's a lot of hospitals, not that many channels, and the channels are localized (i.e. best serve certain areas). CMED also does some other data-gathering, disaster coordination, resource mobilization, etc.

To the OP: I used to have new partners practice by holding a radio turned off. If you didn't give the note for a call (e.g. you drove), practice the note anyway afterwards. You really need to go through the motions of putting yourself on the spot and trying to lay everything out in a few cohesive sentences. Always think about what you're going to say first. At the end of the day, though, the most important thing is just to say what they want to hear and nothing else, and it's difficult to know what this is until you get some experience. (Hint: for the majority of patients, it's very little more than the fact that you're coming in with something unexciting and will need a bed in a few. Like calling your buddy to tell him you're coming over. He doesn't need your life story, he just wants to know he should put on pants and make room on the couch.)

 

[Chewy20]

Keep it short and to the point. After a while the nurses stop listening anyways! If you have to, right a couple notes down and read them as you speak. DON'T RUSH.

All I say for a routine call is:

Me: Hospital (whatever one I am going to) this is Medic 19.
Hospital: This is so and so go ahead Medic 19.
Me: Medic 19 is inbound to your facility code 1 with a 45yom chief complaint of chest pain x2 days. All vitals are normal, no abnormalities on the 12-lead and we will be there in about 5 mins, any questions?
Hospital: Nope, drive safe.

Unless vitals are out of wack I do not see the point of going down the list. If something is not right, then I will be more specific.

Also, when I worked in MA I would just call our hospitals CMED number on my cell phone. Was quicker.

 

[Brandon O]

Also, when I worked in MA I would just call our hospitals CMED number on my cell phone. Was quicker.

Discouraged nowadays.

 

[Chewy20]

Discouraged nowadays.

ehh figures

 

[TattooedNay]

Discouraged nowadays.

since when?

 

[Brandon O]

since when?

Depends on your service, I suppose. But it's not usually a recorded line if you call directly; you're just getting the ED desk phone. The state wants notes to be recorded.

Technically I think you're supposed to call CMED and have them relay it if your radio is down.

 

[Clare]

Keep it short and simple.

- Who you are
- What they have (one sentence)
- What you did (if applicable) - again, one sentence.
- When you're getting there

For example "Mt Wellington 4, 23-year-old female cyclist vs car at moderate speed, presumed severe traumatic brain injury, GCS 3, status one, ETA 5 minutes" or "City 2, 53-year-old male, anterior STEMI on 12 lead ECG, status one, ETA 10 minutes" is all you need to say.

 

[Bullets]

So has Massachusetts not gotten cell phone technology yet?

NJ still has the HEAR channel as a backup but we just use our phones to call the ER or OLMC for things or for alerts

But even on the phone: Who you are and Where you are with an ETA, Patient age and sex, chief complaint with duration, vitals, your interventions, and then repeat eta

"Hey Doc, this is EMT Bullets in Anytown about 10 minutes to St Closest with a 57 yom complaining of midsternal non reproduceable chest pain 10/10 radiating into his left arm, BP 168/110, HR 110, R 24, SpO2 98. We administered 325mg ASA and 4Lpm NC with no relief, any question? Ok, see you in 10 minutes"

 

[BigBadWolf]

We cheat up here and at the bottom of our report page have a little fill in the blank thing we can just read off then. Medic 1 to hospital we are enroute with a male/female pt age ____ with a CC of _________________. Current vitals are (read the monitor). Interventions are __________. We are _____ minutes out.

 

[Crystal42]

Thanks guys! After serveral times of doing it, it becomes normal. I write what I'm going to say first and then have my partner reread it quickly before i get it. It's getting more and more comfortable as i do it. And i kind of like the radio idea. I would hate to call them on my cell phone every time

 

[RedAirplane]

Do you give current vitals, initial vitals, or all vitals?

 

[NomadicMedic]

You give current vitals unless the first set is significant. For example, "I found the pt with a BP of 70/38... I've given a liter of NS and now the pressure is 100/72"

 

[Brandon O]

I just say they're unremarkable unless there's something worth mentioning. There are few things more wearying in life than listening to someone describe a respiratory rate of 16 over the radio.