When to get patient contact information

[Hogandoc]

I am a newer, 6 months in EMT on a BLS truck, rural area.
Our company wants us to collect patient contact info on each call,
Including billing address, DOB, phone #, and middle initial.

I remember memorizing those flow sheets for the psychomotor exam,
And have learned that in the “real” world things go differently.
Those sheets never had a slot for collect demographics.

I try to ask anyone in EMS their opinion, at what point on a call do you collect
This data? You may get the name up front, the address from dispatch, etc,
But is there a best time? Often once on the roll, medic is onboard, and so far they don’t like us
Asking d.o.b and ssn while on the roll, but also hard to get while doing our initial assessments.

Looking for opinions.

 

[CALEMT]

Shouldn't you be doing documentation on every patient? Perhaps in the form of a patient care report (PCR)?

 

[MMiz]

For a hospital the hospital transfer/discharge the person working with the patient as the “Tech” would get the information from the nurse/discharge instructions.

In the field we’d get basic demographics after completing the initial assessment and beginning treatment. When you’re filling out your documentation you can ask all the relevant questions.

We had to collect insurance information on every call and would collect it during transport when getting HIPAA signatures If the call was chaotic, the person driving would collect it after arriving at the hospital.

 

[Hogandoc]

Yes, that is what I was asking, WHEN to ask for it, thank you.

Obviously it is collected for every patient. That’s what PCRs are great for.

At my other job, I actually have the patients fill it all out on a 3 page form in the waiting room, which gives me a very through history. We do it again pre-anesthesia, along with vitals. But in the field, it has to be worked in within the treatment. Between assessment and treatment makes sense.

 

[CALEMT]

Yes, that is what I was asking, WHEN to ask for it, thank you.

Obviously it is collected for every patient. That’s what PCRs are great for.

At my other job, I actually have the patients fill it all out on a 3 page form in the waiting room, which gives me a very through history. We do it again pre-anesthesia, along with vitals. But in the field, it has to be worked in within the treatment. Between assessment and treatment makes sense.

In the prehospital setting its simply "small" talk while I'm assessing/treating. It's nothing to ask for a drivers license or ID which will have 90% of the info you will need.

I must be misunderstanding your question or it's just that basic that I'm having trouble comprehending it. If time (scene or transport) is a issue I'll be the first to tell you that it's not. When I worked private EMS and now for a FD I've been able to get full demographics as I'm running the call in eyesight from the hospital OR as the ambulance is pulling up on scene with me... that's what partners are for...

 

[Akulahawk]

If minimizing scene time is important, just try to get name and maybe DOB. Right then. It can be as simple as "Hey, what's your name?" "Hey, what's your birthday, my boss wants it for my chart..." "Hey, you got an ID? I've got a terrible memory..." Once you get to the Hospital, their registration is going to ask the patient for that stuff too. Get a face sheet... that'll have whatever contact info the hospital has. Now if they give their name as Jimmy Hoffa, DOB 2/14/13, and they're not like 10 years old but not over 100, chances are pretty good they're NOT Jimmy Hoffa... Same goes for someone stating: "I'm God. Be gone Demon!! I command you..."

Quite frankly, I do IFT work. I make sure that I get a face sheet (patient demographics) from the sending facility. Dispatch usually gets the name and dob correct... but not always. So I update that info during transport, as long as I've got maybe 2 minutes. We use ImageTrend. I've got a couple tabs dedicated to demographics but basically all I need to do is tap on one tab, enter name/dob. If we've had that patient before, that makes things easier. If not, well, populating that part takes maybe 20 seconds. I've got an address tab. That takes maybe another 20 seconds to do. There's a billing tab. That's another few seconds, but can be done later. If the patient has an arm band from a facility, I'll try to get info off of that.

If I don't have my tablet, or somehow it died/got lost (even if temporarily) I write that stuff down. There's a reason I have pens and a sharpie on me along with paper or a notebook.

In any event, if I'm doing a 911 type call and not an IFT, I'll get a face sheet at the ED and attach that to my report and since I try to get the basic demographics as early in the contact as I can, I don't have to deal with it much later or I don't have to revisit it unless I absolutely must.

 

[Hogandoc]

If minimizing scene time is important, just try to get name and maybe DOB. Right then. It can be as simple as "Hey, what's your name?" "Hey, what's your birthday, my boss wants it for my chart..." "Hey, you got an ID? I've got a terrible memory..." Once you get to the Hospital, their registration is going to ask the patient for that stuff too. Get a face sheet... that'll have whatever contact info the hospital has. Now if they give their name as Jimmy Hoffa, DOB 2/14/13, and they're not like 10 years old but not over 100, chances are pretty good they're NOT Jimmy Hoffa... Same goes for someone stating: "I'm God. Be gone Demon!! I command you..."

Quite frankly, I do IFT work. I make sure that I get a face sheet (patient demographics) from the sending facility. Dispatch usually gets the name and dob correct... but not always. So I update that info during transport, as long as I've got maybe 2 minutes. We use ImageTrend. I've got a couple tabs dedicated to demographics but basically all I need to do is tap on one tab, enter name/dob. If we've had that patient before, that makes things easier. If not, well, populating that part takes maybe 20 seconds. I've got an address tab. That takes maybe another 20 seconds to do. There's a billing tab. That's another few seconds, but can be done later. If the patient has an arm band from a facility, I'll try to get info off of that.

If I don't have my tablet, or somehow it died/got lost (even if temporarily) I write that stuff down. There's a reason I have pens and a sharpie on me along with paper or a notebook.

In any event, if I'm doing a 911 type call and not an IFT, I'll get a face sheet at the ED and attach that to my report and since I try to get the basic demographics as early in the contact as I can, I don't have to deal with it much later or I don't have to revisit it unless I absolutely must.

Thank you, this is very helpful. Unfortunately we are still operating with pen and notepads. We always get a face sheet, and can scan the bar code to read the ssn. If we don’t transport to the ED however, it’s all us.
Appreciate your response.

 

[Akulahawk]

Thank you, this is very helpful. Unfortunately we are still operating with pen and notepads. We always get a face sheet, and can scan the bar code to read the ssn. If we don’t transport to the ED however, it’s all us.
Appreciate your response.

The good news is that if you're still doing paper PCRs, you don't have to worry about battery life... In your instance, you just need to have your pen/notebook out and get that info early on. The vast majority of people will tell you their demographics. A few won't or can't. In my experience, someone that's homeless will usually self-identify as homeless when asked where they live. I usually say something to the effect that the bosses have questions they make me ask... and that's when I start looking for the demographic stuff. That way if there's no face sheet because no transport... well, at least I have some info.

 

[DesertMedic66]

Get a name and an age. Then complete your entire assessment, vitals, and treatments. Once all of that is done then you can get your billing information.

 

[DrParasite]

I get the patient's name within the first few seconds. It typically goes like this:

"Hi, I'm here to help, what's your name? do you live here? can I get your DOB?"

followed by

"what's going today? do you have any meds? any allergies? PMX? which hospital do you want to go to?"

paperwork is done in the ambulance.

Side note: I was told by a hospital once that it was a HIPAA violation for them to print out a facesheet that contained the information I just told them....

 

[MMiz]

Side note: I was told by a hospital once that it was a HIPAA violation for them to print out a facesheet that contained the information I just told them....

That was also the case for most of the hospitals we transported to.

I ended up collecting most of the information beyond name and age in the ambulance during transport.

 

[PotatoMedic]

That was also the case for most of the hospitals we transported to.

I ended up collecting most of the information beyond name and age in the ambulance during transport.

Just start telling them it's a HIPAA violation for me to provide patient demographics.

 

[DrParasite]

Just start telling them it's a HIPAA violation for me to provide patient demographics.

that was exactly my response... their confused look made me walk away...

 

[NomadicMedic]

I’ve never had problems getting patient’s name, date of birth, Social Security number and medical history. I usually ask during the transport and type in my iPad. It’s part of the job.

 

[Ensihoitaja]

In the prehospital setting its simply "small" talk while I'm assessing/treating. It's nothing to ask for a drivers license or ID which will have 90% of the info you will need.

I must be misunderstanding your question or it's just that basic that I'm having trouble comprehending it. If time (scene or transport) is a issue I'll be the first to tell you that it's not. When I worked private EMS and now for a FD I've been able to get full demographics as I'm running the call in eyesight from the hospital OR as the ambulance is pulling up on scene with me... that's what partners are for...

Also, ESO can scan driver's licenses and import the info from the barcode.

 

[johnrsemt]

We get all the info; (but we have a 90minute to 2 hour transport so it is relatively easy: including pictures of DL and insurance cards, and a picture of the patient (hard for the patient to say in court that wasn't me, when there is a picture).
If you are taking it off Driver's license, make sure the address is still valid.
Always, ALWAYS make sure the name you enter is spelled the same as the ID, really hard to collect on insurance when the name is spelled wrong.

 

[Kavsuvb]

If they have Medical Alert tags or File of Life, you can get all the info off their Medical Alert tags or File of Life. For Example, I have the MyID which is Medical Alert Bracelet and card that has a QR code that stores all my Medical Info on a site. I can update it on the site and all first responders have to do is scan the QR code on the bracelet and all my medical info pops up.

Here's the link https://www.getmyid.com/