How to get info from the hospital about a patient you took care of

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newEMT

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Hi!

Our service took care of a badly injured child a few weeks ago. We did a critical incident stress debriefing, but the child's doctor wouldn't release any info about the him so we could update everyone.

We were directly involved in the patient's care so I don't understand the red tape. We are considering doing a case review for educational purposes and really want a brief summary from the hospital. Anyone know who to talk to and what to say? Is there some sort of privacy officer to talk to rather than the physician taking care of the patient?

Thanks
 
From experience both working in a hospital and trying to find out info later as a field provider, I've always seen much better luck going through RNs than talking to a doc. The RNs will usually be willing to give you an update, especially if you happen to come in on shift and are in uniform.
 
newEMT said:
Hi!

Our service took care of a badly injured child a few weeks ago. We did a critical incident stress debriefing, but the child's doctor wouldn't release any info about the him so we could update everyone.

We were directly involved in the patient's care so I don't understand the red tape. We are considering doing a case review for educational purposes and really want a brief summary from the hospital. Anyone know who to talk to and what to say? Is there some sort of privacy officer to talk to rather than the physician taking care of the patient?

Thanks
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There should be a formal process in place to get information for follow up or for educational purposes, the hospital EMS coordinator should be able to get you through the process.

If there is no official EMS coordinator I would talk to the charge nurse and find out what the process is.
 
I never have issues getting updates.. maybe the doc your dealing with is a jerk...
 
Everyday the hospitals have people who are supposedly friends and family of the patients dressing up in scrubs or wearing some type of uniform coming in to see someone and believing that will make RNs and doctors tell everything even what they legally can not about the patient. We also have EMTs who want to get the scoop on a high profile case such as a professional athlete, celebrity or some other EMS crew's previous transport for whatever reasons. If they are wearing a uniform or working in the health care profession, they should know what can legally be disclosed or not among family and health care professionals. Even health care professionals working in the hospital may no longer access a patient's medical records just out of curiosity if that patient is no longer in their direct care.

Follow the proper channels and have a liaison between your agency and the hospital that can obtain the information needed. Don't expect a lot of details unless there is some type of agreement for teaching or research. Learn the laws of your state and policies of the hospital which may exceed HIPAA and to what information is profected to ensure patient privacy.
 
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Usually I just ask, I have a good rapport with the ER nurses, its the same group of girls, and they will straight up tell me if they see me later, or just ask and they tell me. If you develop a good relationship with the receiving nurses, they see you often, they will know you as a quality provider and all around good guy. I don't even bother with the docs
 
If we can't get any info from the nurses or dr's(which is very rare), we contact our CES supervisor or our Med Control and one of them usually follows up for us.
 
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