http://www.recordnet.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20131109/A_NEWS/311090319/-1/NEWSMAP
Interesting. Thoughts???
Interesting. Thoughts???
Air Medical program fined
- Thread starter Flight-LP
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Given that San Joaquin County has not had any of it's hospitals actually be designated as a Trauma Center until very recently, I'm not surprised that REACH crews did what they did. There are some Level II and Level I Trauma Centers in adjacent Counties, but San Joaquin General isn't but a Level III TC. That hospital has been "playing" Trauma Center without the designation for quite a long time, and I'm not surprised about that either. It's not cheap to keep available all the required services for TC designation.
Fortunately or unfortunately for people in San Joaquin County, they have had this kind of system in place for years. The flight crew should have known which facilities are designated receiving facilities for SJ County. It's entirely possible that they actually went to a designated receiving facility, which is an alternate one (a Level II TC, in the first instance) rather than going to the in-county Level III facility.
Oakland Children's isn't a designated Trauma Center for San Joaquin County. UC Davis is for all San Joaquin County pediatric trauma.
CentralCalEMT
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This is a common problem in certain areas of Central California where hospitals that can take care of the patient in theory insist on receiving the patients when in fact they are going to stat transfer them out in a short period of time. I have heard of this happening in multiple counties.
In Tulare County where I work, the only trauma center we have is a level III trauma center that has no neuro capacity. If we have a trauma that needs neuro the base hospital MD will strongly encourage us to fly them to a higher level trauma center with the helicopter deciding on the ultimate destination. It sounds like the trauma policy there is the exact opposite and they want the patient evaluated at the level III and then transferred out. It is also surprising that the helicopter got in trouble at all. When I call for a helicopter, once they arrive and I hand over patient care, they decide all patient destination. It is surprising that the helicopter had a pre arranged destination before they even saw the patient.
In Tulare County where I work, the only trauma center we have is a level III trauma center that has no neuro capacity. If we have a trauma that needs neuro the base hospital MD will strongly encourage us to fly them to a higher level trauma center with the helicopter deciding on the ultimate destination. It sounds like the trauma policy there is the exact opposite and they want the patient evaluated at the level III and then transferred out. It is also surprising that the helicopter got in trouble at all. When I call for a helicopter, once they arrive and I hand over patient care, they decide all patient destination. It is surprising that the helicopter had a pre arranged destination before they even saw the patient.