Hey everyone,
So I was told a story yesterday which has me curious about the opinions of others. Let me first start by stating this wasn't my call and I've never responded to this patient before nor do I intend on acting on anything as, well, it wasn't my call haha.
I will also start by explaining how this particular county dispatches. For each call they dispatch response codes Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo. Alpha being non-emergent. Bravo being at your discretion. And Charlie, Delta, or Echo being emergent response. Alpha is typically things like "not feeling well", "fall victim", "abdominal pain", "stubbed toe", etc. While Echo is Cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, swift water rescue, etc.
So yesterday a friend of mine who works at another station told me a story of how a man called 911 complaining of respiratory distress with chest tightness. This was dispatched as a charlie response. I wasn't told what the actual complaint was on scene, but was told it could have been sent as an alpha response. The patient was a frequent flier. When the crew questioned if he was experiencing any chest pain or shortness of breath, the patient told them "no I just told them that because I knew that would make you use the lights and you would get here faster."
Now obviously most of us know some patients do this and know how to work the system. But have any of them ever flat out admitted it to you? What would you do in this particular situation? Ignore it? Document it in your chart? Contact county and inform them of what the patient said? Inform the police for a possible system abuse investigation?
While lights and siren obviously doesn't give you the right to drive like a maniac, most of us have seen that traffic on the roads handle emergency vehicles in....different ways. Moving over calmly, racing the truck, slamming on their brakes in the middle of traffic. Personally I feel its dangerous to the crew and the public to falsely call an emergent response to a scene simply because you want them there a few moments quicker. Can't say I would be to pleased with the patient putting multiple people at risk for emergent response then jokingly admitting it to our faces.
Anyway, was just curious on others opinions on something like this. Has a patient ever admitted to you that they did this? What actions would you take, if any?
So I was told a story yesterday which has me curious about the opinions of others. Let me first start by stating this wasn't my call and I've never responded to this patient before nor do I intend on acting on anything as, well, it wasn't my call haha.
I will also start by explaining how this particular county dispatches. For each call they dispatch response codes Alpha, Bravo, Charlie, Delta, and Echo. Alpha being non-emergent. Bravo being at your discretion. And Charlie, Delta, or Echo being emergent response. Alpha is typically things like "not feeling well", "fall victim", "abdominal pain", "stubbed toe", etc. While Echo is Cardiac arrest, respiratory arrest, swift water rescue, etc.
So yesterday a friend of mine who works at another station told me a story of how a man called 911 complaining of respiratory distress with chest tightness. This was dispatched as a charlie response. I wasn't told what the actual complaint was on scene, but was told it could have been sent as an alpha response. The patient was a frequent flier. When the crew questioned if he was experiencing any chest pain or shortness of breath, the patient told them "no I just told them that because I knew that would make you use the lights and you would get here faster."
Now obviously most of us know some patients do this and know how to work the system. But have any of them ever flat out admitted it to you? What would you do in this particular situation? Ignore it? Document it in your chart? Contact county and inform them of what the patient said? Inform the police for a possible system abuse investigation?
While lights and siren obviously doesn't give you the right to drive like a maniac, most of us have seen that traffic on the roads handle emergency vehicles in....different ways. Moving over calmly, racing the truck, slamming on their brakes in the middle of traffic. Personally I feel its dangerous to the crew and the public to falsely call an emergent response to a scene simply because you want them there a few moments quicker. Can't say I would be to pleased with the patient putting multiple people at risk for emergent response then jokingly admitting it to our faces.
Anyway, was just curious on others opinions on something like this. Has a patient ever admitted to you that they did this? What actions would you take, if any?
