I work for an IFT company in California and we recently had a situation where we transported a pt that was ALOC. The snf staff stated that the pt was normally aloc but was more altered than normal. Vitals were stable. The "aloc" had been going on for about a week according to staff. We transported bls code 2. STUPID. I KNOW. You don't have to tell me how stupid we were. Now I'm worried about my license. I spoke to my supervisor but all he said was If you haven't heard anything yet i think you should be fine....it's been a couple weeks since this happened and I haven't heard complaints from anyone but Im thinking..isn't County gonna come after my license?
worried about losing my license
- Thread starter LM2015
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DesertMedic66
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For transporting a patient code 2, I highly doubt you will lose your EMT certificate.
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Still trying to see what the issue was here...I realize I work in a different system, but no one would raise an eyebrow about that here. The patient was "altered" for an extended period of time, and you took him to the hospital. What's the issue? His condition didn't deteriorate right? How close was the hospital vs. nearest ALS?
I'm assuming code 2 is non-emergent in your system?
I don't see the issue with transporting an altered x1 week patient non-emergent. If there was once a time-dependent emergency, the damage is already long done. If the story is as you describe it, it sounds like the negligence is on the nursing home's side, not yours.
I don't see the issue with transporting an altered x1 week patient non-emergent. If there was once a time-dependent emergency, the damage is already long done. If the story is as you describe it, it sounds like the negligence is on the nursing home's side, not yours.
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Perhaps CA doesn't allow BLS to transport acutely altered patients? Is that the issue?
CALEMT
The Other Guy/ Paramaybe?
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I've transported many patients that were ALOC and I still have my CA EMT cert. I don't really see what the problem is if their condition and vitals didn't deteriorate. You transported code 2 (no lights, no siren) which is perfectly fine, code 3 (lights/ siren) is not warranted based on the information you provided. Not to sure what you're so worried about, you'll be fine.
Ewok Jerky
PA-C
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ALOC x1 week is not emergent. Maybe it was last week but not today. What's got you so worried?
If it was actually a stroke or MI or anything else that is at some point or another an emergency, then yeah, I'd hope it would be audited for the sake of the profession and well being of all patients. That said, you know what you did and didn't document, and you know there is nothing further you can do about it now. Don't pry for information from anyone over there, learn from this event (whether or not it amounts to anything in anyone else's mind), and make yourself better. It'll happen again.
CALEMT
The Other Guy/ Paramaybe?
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Again, what are you so worried about? Did he have a sign/ symptom that you didn't put in. Did you lie about anything? The PCR is already submitted/ exported then whats done is done. If documentation is what you're so worried about, look up some documentation threads on here to get some pointers. You'll get better at knowing what you need and don't need to document.
squirrel15
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What county is it you work in? And do you work for a large or small company? Poor documentation can be an issue, but you should be able to ask someone within your company for help, and by redacting patient info, getting a generalized report idea from the helpful people of this site is possible through PM's. As for losing your license over the call you described even with poor documentation should not be an issue.
squirrel15
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I'm tired and have been up for 26 hours, so I apologize if this comes across as rude because I do not mean it to at all. But the reason we transport patients, is because something isn't normal. If everything was normal we would have no reason to be there. And ALOC does not necessitate ALS depending on patient presentation and medical history.
Chris07
Competent in Incompetence
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I want to run in your area. An area where people call 911 only for legitimate emergencies and with zero abuse of the system sounds like a Utopia.
To the OP:
To re-iterate like everyone else in this thread...you're fine. Transporting an otherwise stable increased ALOC x 1 week patient code 2 is hardly worth taking disciplinary action against. I mean there are medics in the system whose 12-lead knowledge is limited to identifying STEMIs and reading machine interpretations. I think we have bigger problems to deal with than going after an EMT who transported an otherwise stable patient to the hospital code 2. Live, learn, and grow.
LACoGurneyjockey
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There it is. Yes, LA County protocol does say an acutely altered patient requires an ALS assessment. But this patient is not acutely altered. It's been going on for a week. You didn't break protocol because your patient wasn't acutely altered. Yes, it's not normal for them, but it's not a new/sudden onset. And nothing happened enroute. Even in hindsight, there was absolutely no need for ALS or code 3 transport.
The county emsa doesn't give two ****s about something like this, and you have nothing to worry about. I don't see anything you could/should have done differently.
squirrel15
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Lol well I'll play a technicality here just for my side of the argument to sound better, even if its still abusing the system. Calling 911 because the cookies are on top of the fridge instead of the drawer and they need help getting them, something is not normal
