<< I could go on but as I stated earlier, my original post was to respond
to the derogatory comments made about specialty teams >>
<< A complex issue that always seems to stir up turf wars......lets do what
is best for the patient and leave politics and egos on the helipad. >>
Steve:
I'm not sure what I said about specialty teams that sounded derogatory. The
intent of my post was not to bash anyone; I was just using my services'
situation as an example to illustrate the fact that the level of care
provided is not the only issue at hand.
Egos aren't the issue here, either. Like I said before, none of us (the
regular flight crews) harbor any illusions that being PALS/NRP trained makes
us as competent with peds as a ped RN or MD. I know that many services have
specialty team programs that work very well and benefit their patients
considerably.
To answer a couple of your questions: as far as WHEN the specialty teams are
dispatched, it depends on how we receive the call. MOST of our ped transfer
requests come from the receiving facility itself - when they accept a patient
for transfer, they arrange to pick the pt up themselves, whether by ground
ambulance or by us. We are simply a taxi service for them. Occasionally, a
hospital calls us directly with a request to tx a ped (this is happening more
and more...). Our programs policy in this case is to call (not page) the ED
of the receiving facility in order to alert their transport team and get them
mobilized. However, if they cannot be ready to be picked up in 15 minutes, we
go and do the transfer ourselves.
I wholeheartedly agree that if we were only talking about a 5-10 minute
delay, then that would be totally acceptable in the name of a higher level of
care. That's not the case here, though. I was NOT exaggerating when I said
that their response times range from 15-60 minutes. This is simply
unnacceptable, no matter how highly trained you are.
As far as the interventions, when I said I have never seen them do anything
outside if a medic/RN scope of practice, I was INCLUDING what happens in the
ED before tx. Like I said, we (the medics) ride along as crew chief, and we
assist them in the hospital and during tx as needed.
As far as losing referrals, the local trauma center IS noticing. But, like I
said, most of the referring MD's are happy with us doing the transfers
ourselves: We get there fast, we assess the pt quickly and thoroughly, we
perform any interventions necessary, and we get out quickly. That's what they
want to see, and so far the specialty teams just aren't delivering.
Sorry if I offended anyone.....I'm just trying to bring a different
perspective to this discussion......
