COVID & Future of EMS

Telemedicine is great if you're a doctor checking in on one of your diabetics and just need to tweak their insulin dose a bit or to answer some very basic medical questions. But it's not going to be a substitute for anything that should end up in the ED. Though it could have cool implications for medical command calls, the way teleICU works in some rural areas.

I hope that some of the end results of this are a greater ability for EMS to refuse transport and/or suggest alternative destinations, and--less from an EMS perspective but still related--a greater ability for the health care system to say no to futile critical care for patients who are unlikely to benefit or meaningfully survive.
 
rescue1 said:
...and--less from an EMS perspective but still related--a greater ability for the health care system to say no to futile critical care for patients who are unlikely to benefit or meaningfully survive.
Click to expand...
Helluva power to put into the hands of a for profit ambulance company or hospital.
 
ffemt8978 said:
Helluva power to put into the hands of a for profit ambulance company or hospital.
Click to expand...

True, and it's certainly not something that could be rolled out nationwide overnight. But hopefully there may be a push to expand paramedic education to allow for this kind of thing outside of a select few systems like we have now.

And to be honest I don't think for-profit ambulance companies should be running 911 at all, but I know that's a very utopian view for the near future.
 
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