How to Report

• Most times we deliver our patient report via radio
  • Reports to Saint Mary's and Methodist hospitals are on the NATIONAL frequency (currently channel 2 on the ambulance's radio).
  • Reports to Olmsted Community Hospital are on the REGIONAL frequency (currently channel 1 on the ambulance's radio and reads "ST MARYS" on the display).
• We are also able to use cell phones to deliver or report or to contact Medical Control. The phone numbers to both hospitals are in the rig.
• Communication for Gold Cross intercepts will be on the REGIONAL frequency.

When to Report

• Trauma: St Mary's dispatch is requesting a 20 minute lead time for trauma patient reports. With good road conditions, this would be just about the time we leave Chatfield city limits. This will allow them time to have the necessary staff on hand and ready for our arrival.
• Stroke: The hospital should be notified as-soon-as-possible that a suspected stroke patient is being transported. The hospital has a stroke team to assemble with different types of medications based on the time of onset of symptoms. The windows for onset of symptoms is now less-than-or-equal to six(6) hours. As you are leaving Chatfield is a good time to notify the hospital.
  • The Stroke_Pager_Activation.pdf notice from SE EMS and St. Mary's Hospital received 9/4/2008.
• For other calls we will, most times, contact the hospital somewhere around the time we reach Marion.

What To Include

• To all crews bringing patients into St. Mary's Hospital this is how Dispatch would like to have you initiate your radio report. Technically this will start on April 27, 2009 but to get yourself familiar with the new system, you can start anytime.
  • When calling a report to St. Mary’s Hospital, all incoming ground ambulances must identify if they have a medical or trauma patient before giving the report. If they do not, the dispatcher will verify with the caller. Example- Crew: “Gold Cross 641 to St. Mary’s Hospital”, ECC: “Gold Cross 641 do you have a Medical or Trauma patient”, Crew: “Trauma”, ECC: “stand by for the Trauma Report Nurse”. ECC will contact the TRN by phone and notify them that they are needed in the radio room for a trauma report.
• Try to keep patient reports to 30 seconds or less. Items to report include:
  1. Age and Gender
  2. Chief complaint
  3. Glascow Coma Scale (GCS)
  4. Current set of vitals
  5. Pain level
  6. Medications given
  7. Interventions
  8. Additional information pertinent to the patients condition. Things like mechanism of injury or what may have caused the medical condition.
  9. Estimated time of arrival (ETA)

Psychiatric Patients

• When reporting that you are transporting a psychiatric patient there are variious ways of reporting this to the receiving unit. One way that I really thought took the patients feelings into account could have gone something like this: "St Mary's Hospital this is Chatfield Ambulance, we are transporting a 27 year old male to your facility who is having a really bad day and would like some help". It was a Gold Cross crew member who taught this to me.