What would you do?
August 17, 2007My job is all about making decisions, I have to decide who should have an Ambulance over someone else who is in desperate need of help. Sometimes whichever option you chose it will be the wrong one, there is no getting away from that fact.
Let me put a question to you:
You have one Ambulance left to utilise, two 999 calls come in at the same time and in the same area, one 999 call is a one year old child with breathing difficulties, the other 999 call is 5 year old child who has been hit by a car.
Both calls came in at Exactly the same time, and details of both children are from a 3rd party, so they are unknown.
Which would get your Ambulance and why?
both children could possibly be mildly or seriously ill/injured. unless you have more information as to the extent of each child’s situation, i’d give the ambulance to the first call.
Both calls came in at Exactly the same time, and details of both children are from a 3rd party, so they are unknown.
2nd child.
Possibly more sever injuries and 1st child could be helped by talking parents through treatment until help can arrive? And increased possiblitiy of panicking parent/AMPS mis-diagnosis.
But what do I know!
If I remember rightly from what I was told by a friend of mine who works for the local ambulance service, breathing difficulties and the fact that the child with them is only 1, make them the priority? It’s not a decision I’d like to make though! Did either of the 3rd parties stay on the phone - any chance of more info before the decision has to be made? They both sound like cat A calls.
They would both be CAT A calls if the call taker used AMPDS correctly, however being that 3rd party calls cannot assist the injured/unwell patient, there is limited information to go on, and the decision has to be made by the dispatcher.
Given treatment to the child is not possible due to the call having come from, lets say a Doctors surgery, and also given treatment to the child hit by the car can also not be given due to the caller being a passer by and unable to stop.
I would send to the 5 year old first, because a lot of 1yo DIB turn out to be just a cold. Hit by a car is most likely to be life threatening.
Clearly this is a nonsense situation that wouldn’t happen in real life …
>”You have one Ambulance left to utilise”
Ambulances?! One left?
What sort of utopia do you live in?
Surely the scenario should be …
… you have two calls, both came in at the same time. You have no ambulances left but you do have some resources; namely an arsey CTL on a car, a nursey ECP, a CFR scheme volunteer available on a pager, an RAF FR, a private RRV and an on-call bronze. Which do you choose to go to which?
Cheers
Blippie
Blippie, we would be lucky to even have those resources left!!
We seriously do run out of everything very regularly, because we simply do not have the staff or vehicles to man.
I would go for the 5 yr old hit by a car. As an EMT-B and a volunteer on a small fire dept. with only 2 ambulances, it would be a very hard decision to make. Either could be very serious or minor, but you always have to think the worst until you arrive at the scene.
Assuming both have come out as a Red 3 on AMPDS and it would be impossible to call back for more info because they are 3rd party callers, I’d give the ambulance the call it was closer to, unless there was an ambulance about to become available near that call.
That would be going “by the book”, though, inside I’d be hoping the child hit by the car would be the one to get it because everyone knows that “breathing difficulty” calls are often just people with colds!