This article highlights the importance of utilizing ambulances responsibly. While praising the expertise and quick action of paramedics, the author emphasizes the strain on the system caused by inappropriate calls for non-emergency situations. The consequences of delayed response to genuine emergencies are starkly illustrated.
When should you call an ambulance? The decision could mean the difference between life or death – and not just your ownThe volume of inappropriate emergency presentations via ambulance invites puzzlement that people could be so seemingly frivolous with a precious assetThe instant dismay of seeing a well person in emergency is somewhat offset by her disarming honesty. She is poor, ill-supported and not sure what symptoms to report where.
There are situations where an ambulance should always be called: severe pain, breathlessness or bleeding, sudden numbness or paralysis, trauma, altered consciousness and large burns. But on any given day, a snapshot of the emergency department shows that many patients are not a true emergency. Professionals consider a health emergency as a sudden or unexpected event requiring urgent assessment and treatment. This definition is based on clinical judgment and physiological cues. But the patient’s perception is based on emotional cues and layperson views. Patients cannot be expected to accurately evaluate the urgency of a health event.
Paramedics say when people call an ambulance, a risk-averse system searches for the worst-case scenario at the expense of the most likely one. Dispatchers must adhere to a script that prevents making a judgment call, which is not how real-life medicine operates.
Ambulance Emergency Medical Services Healthcare System Triage Delayed Response
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