New tandem for transfers

Emergency medical technicians are teaming with registered nurses in a pilot project designed to reduce emergency department wait times and keep ambulances on the road.

The Emergency Medical Services Continuous Patient Care (CPC) project at Rockyview General Hospital in Calgary allows ambulance crews to transfer patients to an EMT/RN team that staffs five beds for patients arriving by ambulance.

When ambulance crews bring patients to emergency, they must stay with their patients until they are transferred into hospital care. In the new project, patients are transferred and assessed more quickly and ambulances are back on the road sooner.

“RNs are able to initiate tests and doctor’s orders while EMTs assist in managing patient care,” says Mary Louise Baines, patient care manager of the Rockyview’s Emergency Department.

“We are even seeing patients discharged from the CPC beds without needing to be seen in the mainstream emergency system.”

The pilot project began in mid-December will run around the clock for six months.

Whether they arrive by ambulance or on their own, all emergency patients are seen according to the acuity, with the sickest patients being cared for first. If immediate treatment is required, patients are taken directly into the Emergency Department.

The CPC beds simply provide an additional area where patients can be assessed, while reducing the number of ambulance crews waiting with patients in emergency department hallways.

The project earns kudos from Jane Kinzer, who arrived at Rockyview by ambulance with chest pain. She was transferred to a CPC bed, assessed by a physician and cared for by an RN/EMT team.

“They did blood work and X-rays very quickly,” she says. “I actually thought it would take longer to be perfectly honest, so this is good.”

Another project benefit is when EMTs are not involved in CPC, they assist in other areas of emergency as needed.

 “I feel that it works very efficiently and effectively,” says Patrick Scollard, an EMT regularly stationed at the Rockyview Emergency during the pilot. “While it’s too early to determine the project’s sustainability, early reports are encouraging. The feeling is that patients are being seen faster.”

As one of the RNs on the team, Scott Armstrong feels the project definitely has potential.

“We’d see patients in lineups in hallways and they would sit for hours on a stretcher. Now they can get back here and be treated,” he says. 

“It’s good for triage to make room for patients in the department and allows EMS to go bring more in. Everyone has felt a positive effect from it.”