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From the President
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Chapter
Update
AL
ACEP Conference a huge success!
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Alabama EM Practice
News
Congrats
to Dr. John Campbell, “Hero” of Emergency Medicine | |||
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State
Trauma System Update The
implementation of the statewide trauma system is moving along slowly. At
this time the BREMSS region (since 1996) and the North region (since March
2008) are operational. This brings 43% of the Alabama population within
the system. In May there were 333 patients entered into the BREMSS region
and 178 patients entered into the North region. The Level I trauma centers
(UAB, Children's' Hosp., Huntsville Hosp.) took care of 80% (406 pts) of
the patients and the other 20% (105 pts) were spread among the other 17
Level II and Level III trauma centers. At present only the prehospital
folks can enter a patient into the trauma system but soon hospitals (ED
docs) will be able to enter them. This is important to you because, once a
patient is entered into the trauma system, the trauma communications
center takes responsibility for arranging any needed transfer, saving you
a ton of time and phone calls. To see the criteria for entering a
prehospital patient into the trauma system, go to www.adph.org/EMS,
click on EMS Rules and Protocols, then click on Alabama EMS Paramedic
Protocols (4th Ed.). The trauma protocol is 8.5. The hospital criteria for
entering a patient into the trauma system will be available soon. We
expect to have the East, West, and Southeast regions operational later
this year and Gulf region operational by Spring of 2009. For more
information about the Alabama Trauma System go to www.adph.org/ats. | |||
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Psychiatric
Patient Wait Times Highlighted In
a recent issue of USA Today, the
long wait times of psychiatric patients was highlighted. This story was
based on a survey that ACEP
recently conducted (which is available online). Some emergency
departments in Alabama did participate in this survey. Of the 328
emergency department directors who responded to the survey, almost 80
percent said their hospital "boards" psychiatric patients in the emergency
department. Thirty percent said their hospitals board psychiatric patients
between eight and 24 hours, and more than one-quarter said that their
hospitals board children with psychiatric illnesses for that
long. | |||
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Boarding
Solutions Report Released Boarding
is a systemic, hospital-wide problem of which many of you are acutely
aware. A new report, "Emergency
Department Crowding: High-Impact Solutions," recommends several
low-cost or no-cost solutions to reduce the amount of time patients are
boarded in the ED. | |||
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EMT
Protocol Update The
EMT prehospital patient care protocols (Basic, Intermediate, and
Paramedic) are reviewed and updated once a year in June. There were 15
changes to the protocols this year and the protocol documents will be
updated in July after the State Committee of Public Health accepts the
changes. You can review the changes and the complete protocol documents
(available for downloading) by going to www.adph.org/EMS, click on EMS
Rules and Protocols, then click on Alabama EMS Paramedic (or Basic, or
Intermediate) Protocols (4th Ed.). Since most emergency physicians give
on-line medical direction, it is important that you keep abreast of any
changes in the prehospital patient care
protocols. | |||
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ED
Diversion and Patient Rights Many
emergency departments are occasionally overwhelmed with patients and
choose to divert ambulance patients during these times. It is important
for emergency physicians to know Alabama patient rights related to this
situation. It has always been the position of the Alabama Board of Medical
Examiners (the group that gives us our medical licenses) that patients
always have the final decision on where an ambulance is to take them. Even
if your emergency department is on diversion status, if a patient demands
that the ambulance take them or their family member to your hospital, the
EMT must take them there and you are obligated to examine them and provide
care for them if they have an emergency situation. The EMT has no choice
in this matter so it is inappropriate to take out your frustrations on
him/her. | |||
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ITLS
Patient Assessment Video The
patient
assessment DVD is a joint production of Alabama ACEP and International
Trauma Life Support. The DVD was developed to be used in the ITLS courses
to teach EMTs how to perform a proper assessment of a trauma patient in
the field setting. The DVD provides a demonstration of the correct way to
perform the Primary Survey (Scene Size-up, Initial Assessment, and Rapid
Trauma Survey), Secondary Survey, and Ongoing Exam. This is provided in
three formats (each section about 15 minutes long): 1. uninterrupted
demonstration from the beginning of the call through all parts of the
exams, 2. the same demonstration with narration to explain each part of
the exam, and 3. The three parts of the exam can be viewed separately
(with narration). In the past the assessment demonstrations done at the
ITLS courses varied greatly in quality and thus usefulness to the
students. The new DVD will standardize this
teaching. | |||
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Get
Your State EMS Medical Control Number All
practicing emergency physicians in Alabama should obtain their state EMS
medical control number. In order to get your number, please contact the Hugh Hollon at the Office of
EMS and Trauma. You can email
him or call 334-206-5293. The Department of Public Health is currently
developing an online application process, but it is currently not
available. | |||
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Opportunities
Honor
your “Heroes in Emergency Medicine” | |||
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Upcoming
Meetings
AL ACEP Board of
Directors Meeting State
Emergency Medical Control Committee Meeting ACEP Scientific
Assembly AL ACEP Board of
Directors Meeting | |||
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Welcome New
Members
Jay
F. Blankenship | |||
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