Who writes/types the PCR EMT or Paramedic in your agency?

TheBuffOP

TheBuffOP

Forum Crew Member
Messages
52
Reaction score
9
Points
8
When I did my clinical's this year on the rig I was told that the Paramedic does the PCR, but in other times I did see the EMT typing out what happen. I'm talking about when the rig is an ALS unit with an EMT and a Paramedic in it.
 
Depends entirely on the system. Where I work, the medic attends every call, BLS or ALS. Since he is providing care to the patient, he completes the PCR. At my last job if the EMT attended a BLS call it was their PCR, if the medic attended it was theirs.
That was a long winded way of saying, verywhere I know of the attendant completes the PCR.
 
AIC finishes the PCR, but when I was precepting AIC (as an EMT) the medic would often have me complete it. He/she looks over it, of course, but it's less paperwork for them and they trust me so...

Comes down to trust I suppose, as do many things. Does your medic trust you to complete paperwork that's going to be submitted under their name?
 
Who ever attended the patient (was in the back with the patient) does the paperwork. So normally it's the paramedic. As the EMT I am driving so I have no clue what medications the medic gave or what the patient said in the back
 
Thanks for the replies, guys.
One of the calls I went to with them was an MVC and we all helped on giving care to the patients (the Paramedic did more than us), but the EMT ended up doing the PCR's.
 
That doesn't make sense to me...like others have said ...the one who techs the call. But in your situation where you all helped...the person in charge (usually transporting medic) will sign the PCR and indicate who did what under the meds given and interventions part.

*At least where I interned (since there were multiple medics on scene) where I work there's only 1 medic so it's a lot more simple.

I guess it just doesn't seem like a good idea to have an EMT complete the chart when he/she did little to no care (unless it was a BLS call, but sounds like it wasn't)
 
Our medics write every single ePCR. Even BLS calls. They will then transfer the ePCR from their iPad to ours for the BLS trip, but it locks out half the report. Really annoying when you want to fix a noticeable spelling error in the narrative or add to the HAM (History, Allergies, and Medications). REALLY REALLY annoying when we can't update which hospital we're going to when the wrong one was entered. We literally have to transfer back to the medics iPad for them to change it and transfer back to us.

We do have a Reassessment and Condition on Transfer box I can plug in to say we went to hospital XYZ instead of ABC, and we can update the Chief Complaint and MOI codes and vital signs and Therapies and unit times all we need though.

And for some reason I can update the Base Contacted and Protocol used boxes but not the Receiving Facility and some other quirks in the system.

It's a known issue the EMS Chief knows about and supposedly the department is trying to get the software updated, so we'll see.

But for all that, our iPad ePCRs are a heck of a lot nicer than the Toughbook based ePCRs other departments use. Ours is basically a picture of the old paper PCR that we tap on the section we want to edit and it brings up that specific subsection to plug in vs the other systems used that make you scroll through a bunch of tabs and menus, the other departments that see ours say it's a lot more intuitive than theirs so that's a plus lol


TL; DR
Our medics write every report regardless if it's an ALS or BLS transport.
 
At my services I've worked for, it's the one who attended. EMT or medic
 
@Jim37F do the medics tech every call too or does it depend on level of service?
I've never heard of it being done that way.
 
Angel said:
@Jim37F do the medics tech every call too or does it depend on level of service?
I've never heard of it being done that way.
Click to expand...
Paramedic Engine company (2 FFPMs on the engine) and BLS ambulance is the standard for my fire dept.

Medics only attend ALS calls, for BLS they send us the ePCR and go back in service while we transport.

I agree it's a bit odd, but in a way it's nice cuz it cuts down on paperwork I have to do even when attending BLS calls all day lol though I am a bit worried that my report writing skills are beginning to atrophy :/

When I was working private IFT whoever attended wrote the report, but the county wanted a separate ALS run form from our agency wide PCR so the medics had do write two run forms. CCT nurses wrote their CCT/ALS run form while the EMT attending with the nurse wrote up the separate agency for as well. Never understood that either.

The second private company I worked for was almost all BLS (except for one dual medic unit) did transport for the local FD, we always had our agency run for on all calls, and the fire medics had theirs, gave us a copy even when triaging to BLS, had to turn in a copy of both run forms to the hospital as well as copies to dispatch at end of shift. Also never made any sense to me.

I understand the county EMS Agency wants their standard run for for all ALS calls, but then every private company addino their own on top of that? Weird lol
 
Yuck 2 pcrs is just ridiculous. I'm all for less paperwork though.
 
Whoever attends the call does the pcr. If it is my BLS partners call and I do an ALS intervention it is charted as me doing it and I co sign the pcr / medical/nursing notes after.... Paper based system.
 
Everywhere I've worked, the person directing care of the patient is the person that writes the report, or their portion of the report. Way back when I was precepting, we had paper charts. The way they handled it, there was ONE chart per patient. This was a fire-based EMS system. If the Engine arrived well before the Ambulance, they'd start the chart and they'd sign their part once the Ambulance arrived. The Ambulance personnel would then complete the chart and sign their part. The way the chart was designed, it was very obvious "who" did "what" as far as patient care. I've turned patients over to my partner, (ALS t0 BLS) and I sign the chart at the turn-over and then my partner does the report... Simple & easy, actually.

As to having certain parts of the ePCR locked out after transfer from one device to another, that's a good thing, though I agree that the destination (for instance) should be one of the fields that the current possessor of the ePCR should be able to change.
 
Angel said:
That doesn't make sense to me...like others have said ...the one who techs the call. But in your situation where you all helped...the person in charge (usually transporting medic) will sign the PCR and indicate who did what under the meds given and interventions part.

*At least where I interned (since there were multiple medics on scene) where I work there's only 1 medic so it's a lot more simple.

I guess it just doesn't seem like a good idea to have an EMT complete the chart when he/she did little to no care (unless it was a BLS call, but sounds like it wasn't)
Click to expand...
Yeah, it's weird. Well, the EMT did ended up being in the back with the patients (2) and the medic drove. The patients had minor injuries (whiplash, neck and back pain). Now that I think of it, maybe that's why he did the PCR.
 
With us, whomever is in the support role (not teching) will START the PCR (Demos, CC, vitals, HAM, interventions etc). The medic will add to the respective fields, organize the times and write the narrative.
 
gotshirtz001 said:
With us, whomever is in the support role (not teching) will START the PCR (Demos, CC, vitals, HAM, interventions etc). The medic will add to the respective fields, organize the times and write the narrative.
Click to expand...
That makes sense ans has been done everywhere I work. But I would refuse to write a narrative on a patient I didn't take
 
It is the Officer mainly responsible for patient care who writes the PRF but all Officers present must agree that it is accurate.
 
Jim37F said:
Paramedic Engine company (2 FFPMs on the engine) and BLS ambulance is the standard for my fire dept.

Medics only attend ALS calls, for BLS they send us the ePCR and go back in service while we transport.

I agree it's a bit odd, but in a way it's nice cuz it cuts down on paperwork I have to do even when attending BLS calls all day lol though I am a bit worried that my report writing skills are beginning to atrophy :/

When I was working private IFT whoever attended wrote the report, but the county wanted a separate ALS run form from our agency wide PCR so the medics had do write two run forms. CCT nurses wrote their CCT/ALS run form while the EMT attending with the nurse wrote up the separate agency for as well. Never understood that either.

The second private company I worked for was almost all BLS (except for one dual medic unit) did transport for the local FD, we always had our agency run for on all calls, and the fire medics had theirs, gave us a copy even when triaging to BLS, had to turn in a copy of both run forms to the hospital as well as copies to dispatch at end of shift. Also never made any sense to me.

I understand the county EMS Agency wants their standard run for for all ALS calls, but then every private company addino their own on top of that? Weird lol
Click to expand...

I don't understand how ALS can complete the narrative, lock it, and leave before the patient has been transported. How do you document anything that occurs after?
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top