Hospital & Report Procedures

Section 2 - EMERGENCY OPERATIONS

PURPOSE:

To establish procedures for delivery of patients to hospital staff, completion of the Electronic Patient Care Report, when EMS reports are to be completed, and minimizing out of service time after arriving at the hospital.

PROCEDURE:

It is the responsibility of crew members to complete a draft of the Maitland Fire Rescue patient care report for each patient. Mileage is automatically populated through the ESO program. If for any reason this is not populated, all crew members are required to report the transport mileage to the nearest tenth of a mile in order to meet new Medicare guidelines effective January 1, 2011. They must also obtain a copy of the hospital face sheet for billing purposes. Therefore, the Maitland Fire Rescue Department will utilize the following procedure:

• MFRD Crews must obtain a hospital patient ID number upon arrival of the ED. (This ID number must be documented in the “Chart Number” of the ESO program.)
• When the patient is able to do so, obtain patient’s signature on the electronic Patient Signature Form. (For alternative patient signature options, refer to SOG 220.05) Also have the receiving nurse sign the Faculty signature form. Document receiving nurse name in ESO.
• Hospital Delays - Obvious Delay - Upon arrival at an ED with an obvious delay (i.e. multiple rescues/ambulances waiting) call the on-duty Battalion Chief immediately. Not an Obvious Delay - Upon a delay in offload make the first call at the 30 minute mark to the on-duty Battalion Chief. Ensure to have the name and contact information of the charge nurse. Battalion Chiefs are to contact the charge nurse to determine an offload timeframe. If offload is determined to be imminent (within 5 mins) the Battalion Chief will advise the crew and follow-up to confirm offload. If the offload is determined to be longer than 5 mins the Battalion Chief will contact the Nurse Manager or Assistant Nurse Manager to apprise them of the situation. Once the 45 minute mark is achieved the Battalion Chief shall contact the Deputy Fire Chief. The Deputy Chief will contact the Director of Nursing. At the 60 minute mark the Deputy Chief shall contact the Fire Chief for further notifications.
• Transport mileage on the patient care report must be calculated to the nearest tenth of a mile. The transport mileage may be based on start/stop odometer readings noted during transport or may be gained from entering the starting address and ending address in Google Maps.
• A Patient Care Report is to be generated on all EMS calls; this includes but is not limited to – patient assists, auto accidents, dry runs (EMS nature), transports, refusals, no patient found, assist PD (EMS nature), Lockouts (with possible patient), etc…. Furthermore, a report must also be generated even if a call is cancelled.
• Upon completion of the call, the attending crew member will complete the following:
  • Computer generated electronic Patient Care Report;
  • If applicable, digitally attach any EKG tracings, patient signature forms, stroke alert forms, cardiac alert forms, etc.
  • Patient Care Reports are to be completed prior to the end of shift. Exceptions to this are to be made on a case by case basis and approved by the on-duty Battalion Chief.
• At the end of each shift, the OIC shall complete the following:
  • The OIC or his/her designee shall log into ESO program to review and submit to the QA process any completed EMS reports by 2000hrs. EMS reports completed after 2000hrs shall be reviewed by the end of the shift. All reports should have requested corrections made within 72 hours.
  • At no time should a report be under Supervisor Review for more than 9 days (The responsibility of this procedure rests solely on the report’s “Lead” provider)
• At the beginning of the following shift, the On Duty Battalion Chief will verify that all reports have been entered from previous shifts in ESO program