Ambulance N.B. needs a tune-up
Published Saturday May 30th, 2009
An independent review of the provincial ambulance service has found serious problems, from training to mapping and dispatch. The Department of Health and Ambulance New Brunswick must take steps to resolve the service's shortcomings as soon as possible, before another patient dies.
The circumstances of the 911 call that precipitated this investigation were not unusual. A 14-year-old boy at Fredericton Junction was experiencing severe breathing difficulties. The ambulance normally stationed in the village was in use, transporting a patient from Saint John to Fredericton. An ambulance was dispatched from Oromocto, and expected to arrive within 22 minutes, but rescue crews encountered road closures that impeded their progress. When EMTs finally arrived, 57 minutes and nine seconds had elapsed. They found young Cody Jones dead of cardiac arrest.
Central ambulance dispatch was supposed to overcome the limitations of local services, allowing for seamless 911 response. As the independent investigator in this case discovered, the service falls tragically short of the ideal.
The investigator found:
*Inadequate training for paramedics and dispatchers on reading maps;
*Inadequate mapping resources available to paramedics and dispatchers;
*Lack of policies for dispatchers and paramedics on when to provide and ask for assistance during response;
*A lack of data for provincial roads that are frequently closed by seasonal weather/flooding, and
*No formal mutual aid response plans with municipal fire departments.
The report also raises questions about how Ambulance N.B. transfers patients between hospitals, while keeping enough ambulances ready to respond to emergencies.
Ambulance N.B. got off to a rough start, dogged by complaints that ambulances were not arriving on time and getting lost. This investigation sheds light on the possible reasons why: "Inadequate training, a lack of clear policies and procedures and a lack of the right resources and tools available to the paramedic and dispatch staff combined to create a situation where a patient needlessly suffered." How many other delays resulted from these flaws?
The minister of health has expressed confidence that "all the recommendations will be soon in place." Given the potential for further loss of life, New Brunswickers want to see the service benchmarked against the investigator's report.
Government must set a deadline and have the service reviewed again by an independent analyst. Standard response times don't mean much, if ambulances can't get to the right destination.
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Highway worker's safety?
Psychiatry patients safety. There was an outdoor smoking room constructed within the psych unit at the Moncton hospital when the unit was built about 15 yrs ago. It was only put into operation a couple of yrs ago after they lost track of a patient who said he was going to the street for a smoke and due to many unfortunate circumstances lost his life that night.
If elected into the NB gov't - is it a job requirement to be able to keep a couple of fingers crossed at all times(for luck) and then cross another couple at many other times (for lying-I mean talking)?