What’s the Question? “9-1-1, Do you have an emergency?” A large majority of the ambulance scenarios we handle start with that very question. But what about the questions you, as the provider on the scene, are asking? Do you ask the probing questions that it takes to properly assess, treat and ultimately document your EMS […]
“That” Person A People Game EMS is a people game. Be it fellow first responders, patients, facility staff, the “town fathers”, the media or whomever we encounter; part of being a really good EMS provider is learning how to effectively deal with other people. For the most part, those who remain in EMS for a […]
Discovering the Weakness about “Weakness” Common Scenario If we earned a dollar for every “weakness” response we’ve handled over the years, collectively we could more than adequately fund every EMS system in the United States with the newest trucks, latest equipment and all providers would be driving some expensive European luxury car. But, now that […]
“My Belly Hurts!” Could it be a protruding alien creature? You’re on-call today. The pager trips and the dispatcher announces that the EMS system has been activated by a 57 year old male patient complaining of abdominal pain. Just because it’s Halloween your mind races to visions of aliens protruding from the patient’s abdomen in […]
The Next Big Change- ICD-10 Sit up and take notice! Sit up and take notice! This one’s all you. The content of this blog space is about a new coding initiative. So right now we’ll bet your thinking… “Awesome! Enhanced has this thing under control. Good for them.” Because coding is a billing company thing. […]
Effective ePCR Program Use In Memory of the “Bubble Sheet” There’s no doubt that the introduction of the ePCR (Electronic Patient Care Report) software to the EMS industry has taken us to a new level of efficiency. The ePCR is a great “Tool of the Trade.” R.I.P. the “Bubble Sheet” of old which was often […]
The Drama of Documenting Trauma Making you sweat? Do traumatic incidents make you sweat? Probably. Does documenting traumatic incidents make you sweat more? Most likely. The sheer amount of “stuff” that surrounds our trauma calls many times overwhelms us. The very nature of the run- auto crashes, industrial accidents, severe falls with complications or the […]
I Can’t Breathe! Why this subject? We’ve heard it dispatched a whole bunch of ways… shortness of breath, respiratory distress, dyspnea. If you’ve been in the ambulance business long enough these calls are second nature and they occur a lot. So, why tackle this subject in an ambulance billing blog? Simple answer… just because we […]
What a Pain! We do pain! A lot of what we do in EMS involves patients in pain. Pain is a key component of medical emergencies and traumatic injuries of all shapes and sizes. While it may not be the patient’s chief complaint, there’s no doubt that a majority of the scenarios we respond include a […]
Repeat Patient Pitfalls “Frequent Flyers” We label patients in the ambulance industry. Fairly or unfairly, we group patients together and we do so by placing them into “buckets” based on how we interact with them. One of the most problematic and let’s face it, sometimes disturbing, patient populations are the “Frequent Flyers.” Drawing the term […]
