title: No need for speed.
abstract: Confirmation by a nursing home resident's physician is frequently required prior to transport from the facility to a hospital. So in cases for which the need to transport isn't truly urgent but the assigned priority is lights and siren, EMS often rush to the scene only to wait while physician confirmation is obtained. With the protocol in place, routine response for non-urgent transport needs means that confirmation from the physician is often already being sought or has been received by the time the ambulance arrives. This theoretically places the crew "back in service" sooner. Reducing unnecessary lights-and-siren ambulance response in communities employing this type of response model can improve use of EMS resources. For example, some community-level EMS protocols in the Allina Health EMS service area have local police and fire dispatched to all medical 9-1-1 calls. In non-emergent situations for which the protocol is now used, police and fire are no longer dispatched in situations they would previously have been dispatched concurrent with an unnecessary emergent response. The Allina Health Skilled Facility Ambulance Response Program provides an example of how EMS agencies can partner successfully with skilled-nursing facilities to promote the most appropriate use of ambulance services and effectively reduce the frequency of unnecessary emergent response. Limiting the use of lights-and-siren arrival to only those situations for which it's truly warranted improves safety and benefits nursing home residents by alleviating anxiety and disruption.
authors.affiliation: Center for Healthcare Innovation, Allina Health, Minneapolis, USA. lori.boland@allina.com
authors.forename: Lori L
authors.initials: LL
authors.lastname: Boland
authors.forename: Steve G
authors.initials: SG
authors.lastname: Hagstrom
mesh_terms: D000552:Ambulances; D003657:Decision Making; D004631:Emergency Medical Service Communication Systems; D004632:Emergency Medical Services / Q000458:organization & administration*; D006801:Humans; D009735:Nursing Homes; D013997:Time Factors