Clarification of common terms

[StopNgo1000]

Hey guys and gals , just need some clarification. What is the difference between medical control , medical director and medcom?

 

[Aprz]

Open your EMT book.

 

[JPINFV]

Hey guys and gals , just need some clarification. What is the difference between medical control , medical director and medcom?

Your location would help greatly as there are some regional variations in how medical control is used and administered.

Medcom = radio used to call into an ED or base hospital

Medical director = physician who writes and signs off on your protocols. Depending on the location and service, different services may also be provided such as QA support and DEA number (for controlled substances).

Medical control comes in two varieties, offline and online.

Offline medical control are the standing orders written by the medical director.

Online medical control refers to both orders that require the permission from a medical control physician and the process to achieve that (i.e. radioing in). Depending on the system, this could be a dedicated service dependent location (I believe FDNY does this for EMS in NYC where medical control isn't at a hospital), the hospital you're transporting to, or a specified base hospitals (common in Southern California).

Commonly the term "medical control" when used in isolation is meant in the terms of "online medical control."

For Southern California, the term "base hospital physician" refers to a designated medical control physician at a designated base hospital that is allowed to give orders to paramedics.

 

[StopNgo1000]

Jpin, thank you very much for that !

 

[Brandon O]

Medcom is a California thing. Not sure if anybody else calls it that.

 

[m0nster986]

Med Com is a term used for an individual with the responsibility of communicating with the base hospital during an MCI.

 

[adamjh3]

Medcom is my dispatch center's call sign. So... it varies place to place. The best answer will be given to you by someone locally, though medical director and direction are universal terms, defined as JP laid out.

 

[Brandon O]

Medcom is my dispatch center's call sign.

Was the same in my old county. Firecom, etc.

Note that everybody in this thread is in California...

 

[DesertMedic66]

Med Com is a term used for an individual with the responsibility of communicating with the base hospital during an MCI.

Same for my area (also in SoCal). Med Com is used for MCIs. Incident name followed by Med Com (Palm Med Com, Indian Med Com, etc)

Med Com is the only person during an MCI to make contact with the hospital. He/she gets number of beds available and what their triage level is, giving a brief patient report (to the base hospital) when a patient is enroute to the facility, keeping track of number of patients, number that have already been transported, and what patient got transported to what hospital.

 

[JPINFV]

Medcom is a California thing. Not sure if anybody else calls it that.

In MA it was called "CMED."

 

[Handsome Robb]

Med Com is a term used for an individual with the responsibility of communicating with the base hospital during an MCI.

Depending on where you are located.

Here that would be the transport or triage coordinator depending on how far into the operation we were.

 

[Brandon O]

In MA it was called "CMED."

Thanks, I remember

 

[JPINFV]

Thanks, I remember

Haha... I didn't even check your location. I was just throwing that in under the guise of "Everyone has their own name" and MA is the only place outside of CA that I've worked. CMED, Medcom, red phone, it's all the same.

 

[OrlandoRMAMedic]

Hey guys and gals , just need some clarification. What is the difference between medical control , medical director and medcom?

Here in sunny Florida, medical control is our online physician based out of one of our local hospitals. One of the ED docs there is one of our 3 or 4 medical directors. He makes sure that the doctor that is the "keeper or the radio" is fully aware of our standing protocols and how far outside of those we can travel.

Medical director is our team of doctors, with one being the Head Medical Director, that writes and approves what we can do, medications that we can carry and administer and under what circumstances said medications can me administered. They also direct us in how we call pts on scene, obtain refusals, and what hospitals are the most appropriate, given complaint and presenting signs and symptoms. Basically, after all that I just wrote, they dictate our standing protocols.

Medcom is our 800 radio system with individual channels for each receiving facility to call in our radio reports. The proverbial heads up as to what kind of train wreck we are bringing so that they are ready to receive us when we get there. Sometimes they answer, sometimes they don't (one hosp is notorious for not answering).

That is how it is here. Obviously different depending on where you are in the world.