Hospital Radio Notification Reports

[x635 4,066]

I just was monitoring my scanner, and heard a pretty bad report being given to a hospital, and the nurse sounded annoyed...and had reason to be, as the vague report left a lot of questions that would determine what happens when the patient arrives at the hospital. And this wasn't the first time. Is this something that is still taught in EMT class?

Does anyone have any key points which should be hit on when giving your radio report to the hospital? We all know the ER staff doesn't always have time to listen to a complete report, nor do we always have time to give on. What are some formats or key points that have worked for you in trauma and medical cases that you'd be willing to share?

[PEMO3 523]

Follow the KISS method. Age, Sex, Nature, Obvious injuries or complaints, brief v/s and GS score for trauma patients and interventions in place e.g. O2, immobilized, etc. These basics should give enough of a picture for the ER to prepare. If they need anymore after this they will ask. You can always CYA by ending with "Do you require any further?"

[Bnechis 3,961]

Follow the KISS method. Age, Sex, Nature, Obvious injuries or complaints, brief v/s and GS score for trauma patients and interventions in place e.g. O2, immobilized, etc. These basics should give enough of a picture for the ER to prepare. If they need anymore after this they will ask. You can always CYA by ending with "Do you require any further?"

While this works well in some ER's others will tell you thats already way to much.

A very busy ER general only wants: Code, Trauma Alert, and a few other minor general words. They do not need to knkow how old the pt is to set up for a GSW.

So you really need to know what the ER expects and will even listen too.

Also who is answer the radio. If its the clerk , do they care that the patient is on O2?

[PEMO3 523]

While this works well in some ER's others will tell you thats already way to much.

A very busy ER general only wants: Code, Trauma Alert, and a few other minor general words. They do not need to knkow how old the pt is to set up for a GSW.

So you really need to know what the ER expects and will even listen too.

Also who is answer the radio. If its the clerk , do they care that the patient is on O2?

While I do agree that the information required is extremely ER specific I disagree with age not being relevant is a report to know how to set up. The approach to a 8 y/o is different to that of an 80 y/o. I also believe that hospitals in Westchester are way too anal about needing to be notified about every unit bringing a patient. I agree with the "hot" patients needing notification but do they really need to know that granny is coming in with the runs x 3 days, etc. Maybe I am still in the NYC mode where the only time a hospital was notified is if you needed staff and a room waiting, e.g. cardiac arrest, GSW, multi-trauma, active labor, or something unusual requiring resources beyond the norm. The thought process was the others were triaged in the ED in "non-crisis' mode and placed as needed, bed, chair, waiting room.

[ems-buff 81]

Just remember. Everything is recorded on the hospitals trunk channels

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Chief complaint

Vitals (Stable vs. Unstable)

Initials

Sex

DOB

Interventions

Anything further?

Anything more ties up airspace/phone lines, distracts you from the pt and distracts the ED from doing its job.

[EMT74 4]

St Joes in Yonkers told us to stop calling years ago- unless the pt is intubated.

Also many ED's have a BLS notification line. Use it. Waay better then the radio. And when you hang up, look at the call timer. More than a minute, and you are too chatty.

Examples:

Adult male slip and fall, immobilized.

Elderly female, fell from bed, poss hip Fx.

Child stung by bee, Hx of allergy. Epi pen given, distress cleared.

Bicycle hit by car, multiple Fx and a closed head injury. No LOC, fully alert, breathing well, helmet was on.

[calhobs 110]

I have to agree with PEMO, I never really grasped why every call there has to be a notification. Perhaps I too am use to working in the City. I remember one of my first calls here in Westchester was an MVA in Phleps drive way, we pull into the ER and the nurse starts screaming at us that we didnt call in blah blah blah. I told her it happened in there drive way. She said it doesn't matter you still have to call. So I stepped outside and called from my cell phone and gave my report, they asked for an ETA I said the pt was already in there ER. I was told by the nurse that I was a smart a**.

Edited August 21, 2013 by calhobs

[firemoose827 324]

When I was an EMT-CC the local ED's always wanted a report regardless of status so they knew what we were bringing, and towords the end of my EMT days they even started to tell us certain PT's could be "triaged" in the lobby, meaning we are full with patients that actually need help so they can wait in the lobby and watch TV.

My reports for emergencies were brief and to the point; Age, Chief Complaint, Vitals, treatments given, ETA.

My reports for transports; "PT from "ABC" ED with (enter chief diagnosis from ED Doc) vitals stable no change ETA". I often thought why we even needed to give a report for inter-facility transports when the receiving doc already talked with the sending ER Doc and got a report on the patient, but got yelled at quite a few times by Nurses and Docs for not reporting the events of the trip and advising them of our ETA so they can prepare for them...sigh...guess the hospitals up here by me still like to play with the radio and feel important. I would use my cell phone if it were up to me and just call the receiving unit/nurse to advise of our trip and ETA.

I HATED the long winded reports I heard some of our weekend-warrior EMT's in my county give, they would literally need to start their report about 20 minutes out so they had time to talk..."PT felt sick to stomache last week, took Pepto with no relief, ate some beans, felt better, then felt sick again, vomitedX3 and called us, history of heart and stomache illness and poor eating habits, sweaty, laying supine, SPO2 98% room air, secondary survey negative for injury or signs of illness, I went to the opera last week and enjoyed it, have patient on oxygen even though his SPO2 was high just as precaution, carried patient to ambulance with stair chair, my back hurts now as result, no other complaints, have patient legs elevated...just in case, ETA about.....oh.....(hey jimmy, where are we? How far out?)...uhhh...about 10 (NO 15!!) oh, make that 15 minutes out do you require any more information on the patient...never mind I see you now through the window."

[velcroMedic1987 330]

Chief complaint

Vitals (Stable vs. Unstable)

Initials

Sex

DOB

Interventions

Anything further?

Anything more ties up airspace/phone lines, distracts you from the pt and distracts the ED from doing its job.

Initials? Whose initials and why would you provide them?

[Jybehofd 85]

NYC you don't call in at all unless its a bad trauma job and then you have dispatch give the note to the ER and or cardiac arrest or something else high level priority. If its a routine BLS job why call, cell service isn't the best in northern Westchester and the radios can be hit or miss... the thing is it needs to be turned on at the hospital to actually work. But that's something else all together. But it typical doesn't decrease the time a patient has to stay on the stretcher and get into a room in my experience, where it should.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Initials? Whose initials and why would you provide them?

Pt initials.

Provide them to registration/intake.

Allows ED to prepare charts if it is a frequent flier and allows PT demographic (Face) sheets to be completed sooner allowing for quicker billing.

Typical report would be: XYZ Agency ambulance en route to ABC ED with male J.D. 3/12/43, stable, on 4 lpm O2.

This gives the radio room an idea who is coming in and give a bed assignment, gives the ED staff time to prepare for the pt and gets the ball rolling on getting the billing sheet.

[PEMO3 523]

Why should EMS be concerned about billing getting the face sheet done. Your job should end at the patient hand off and not be concerned with the billing. Believe me they will find a way to bill for that $40 asprin with out you calling in initials and DOB.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Why should EMS be concerned about billing getting the face sheet done. Your job should end at the patient hand off and not be concerned with the billing. Believe me they will find a way to bill for that $40 asprin with out you calling in initials and DOB.

Our billing (Private and non-for-profit EMS).

[JM15 386]

SO then wouldn't that go on your PCR? I do not see the point of giving initials and DOB.... I don't see the point of calling a hospital period for routine BLS or ALS calls unless there is a trauma alert, code, etc.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

SO then wouldn't that go on your PCR? I do not see the point of giving initials and DOB.... I don't see the point of calling a hospital period for routine BLS or ALS calls unless there is a trauma alert, code, etc.

So you just kind of show up and hope they have a bed available for your pt?

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

delete

Edited August 21, 2013 by SRS131EMTFF

[Bnechis 3,961]

So you just kind of show up and hope they have a bed available for your pt?

I have shown up many times and found that even if you called it never made any difference in the time to getting a bed, unless it was a code or a trauma alert.

I've had ambualnces call, get to the ER and wait up to an hour to get a bed.

[RNEMT26 40]

As an ER and ICU nurse, don't bore me with information that does not matter. Most of the time we do not have time to sit by the radio and listen to a 10 min long report when you could have easily condensed the info into literally 2 minutes and a couple of sentences.

[PEMO3 523]

This question is directed to RNEMT26 or any other ED nurses we may have on the board. As someone who is on the other side of the stretcher do you feel calling every patient in as opposed to only the critical notifications that require a room and ED team ready and waiting on arrival make a difference. Does granny coming in with the runs x 3 days or Bill who has had the flu for a few days recieve any different treatment by being called ahead as opposed to just being wheeled in silently.

[velcroMedic1987 330]

So you just kind of show up and hope they have a bed available for your pt?

Do they provide different treatment for patients based on their initials or DOB? That really serves no purpose if they don't look them up in advance and how often do they do that?

Sometimes you do show up and hope they have a bed available. I bet if we put more patients into the waiting room like walk-ins they would eventually stop calling for non-emergencies.

[revemtp 5]

Back to the original question ... EMT classes talk about radio communication. As far as a practical skills lab with practicing calling in the the "Hospital", that would be instructor specific due to course time constraints most probably. As many have mentioned, each area or each hospital has their own requirements for a radio report ... so the agencies need to train their members in the proper procedures for the hospitals they transport to.

[SRS131EMTFF 471]

Do they provide different treatment for patients based on their initials or DOB? That really serves no purpose if they don't look them up in advance and how often do they do that?

Sometimes you do show up and hope they have a bed available. I bet if we put more patients into the waiting room like walk-ins they would eventually stop calling for non-emergencies.

-No

-Yes they do and whenever they can.

-I bet they would to but until that starts happening I will give the ED my pts DOB and initials to help ease the transition of care anyway I can.

[v85 212]

I'm not an ER nurse, but I have seen ambulance crews who failed to give a report, get their heads ripped off by the ED nursing staff

[JM15 386]

Pt initials.

Provide them to registration/intake.

Allows ED to prepare charts if it is a frequent flier and allows PT demographic (Face) sheets to be completed sooner allowing for quicker billing.

Typical report would be: XYZ Agency ambulance en route to ABC ED with male J.D. 3/12/43, stable, on 4 lpm O2.

This gives the radio room an idea who is coming in and give a bed assignment, gives the ED staff time to prepare for the pt and gets the ball rolling on getting the billing sheet.

What part of the initials really helps your patient?

So you just kind of show up and hope they have a bed available for your pt?

If they aren't on diversion they should be able to handle another patient... I don't need to call on the radio to see if they are open lol

[EMTBrian 4]

I don't recall radio procedures ever being taught in EMT class. Not even so much as getting a hand-out. Another neglected subject matter along with PCR's discussed here yesterday

[crcocr1 8]

I don't recall radio procedures ever being taught in EMT class. Not even so much as getting a hand-out. Another neglected subject matter along with PCR's discussed here yesterday

I think what is evident based on all our posts is that EMS to Hospital communications/reports largely are regional in nature. The basics are left to the handout and supplemented by the clinical rotations in hospitals. Perhaps the DOH would benefit for having a set list of expectations while undergoing the 10 hours or so of clinical rotation time for EMTs. EMTs then could be aware what the hospitals that they likely work in or near expect in a hospital report, including the bare minimum basics taught through a handout given in an EMT class.

Insofar as "initals", the benefit for many commercial and even municipal providers seems to be that if hospital registration has that information up front, the EMS provider can obtain a facesheet and get paid for their services easier than relying on patient given information, which we should know may or may not be entirely accurate. It has its benefits and drawbacks, serves very little clinical purpose (outside of perhaps age and sex of patient), but may provide a friendlier atmosphere between EMS and hospital (if the hospital wants the information in a radio report).

[Bnechis 3,961]

I don't recall radio procedures ever being taught in EMT class. Not even so much as getting a hand-out. Another neglected subject matter along with PCR's discussed here yesterday

The sad fact is that EMT training has run anywhere from 89 hours (historicly) to about 180 hours. Many instructors have identified that to actually cover all of the material properly requires 200-300 hours. DOH, the hospitals, the agencies, and the students are not willing to PAY for that amount of training.

Whats really sad is that if my mother is having a heart attack or my child is struck by a car, all that state requires is an ambulance withan EMT that has less than 200 hours of training, but

If I want my head shaved in a barbers shop, the state requires the barber to have gone to school for 2 years, followed by an apprenticship and then they are elligable for taking a licencing exam (after taking a medical exam to prove they have no communicable diseases) & a criminal background check similar to EMT.

[antiquefirelt 994]

If I want my head shaved in a barbers shop, the state requires the barber to have gone to school for 2 years, followed by an apprenticship and then they are elligable for taking a licencing exam (after taking a medical exam to prove they have no communicable diseases) & a criminal background check similar to EMT.

Wow, I thought we were the only state with similar laws. In Maine a barber/beautician has more regulations than firefighters, EMT's, and contractors to name just a few. Of course our municipal government has grasped the same foolishness and agreed to a minimum staffing clause at the library that exceeds that of the FD!

[RNEMT26 40]

This question is directed to RNEMT26 or any other ED nurses we may have on the board. As someone who is on the other side of the stretcher do you feel calling every patient in as opposed to only the critical notifications that require a room and ED team ready and waiting on arrival make a difference. Does granny coming in with the runs x 3 days or Bill who has had the flu for a few days recieve any different treatment by being called ahead as opposed to just being wheeled in silently.

- Honestly, in my opinion we like to have a heads up of whats coming in and if we need to move people in order to open up a bed it's a lot easier to do it before you get there. Calling in a report doesn't necessarily change the treatment, but it can allow us to be a little bit more prepared for what is coming in, regardless of whether the patient is critical or not.