My colleague and I received an emergency call at 03.40hrs to reports of a two-vehicle road traffic collision. Once on the scene it was confirmed as a high-speed collision. I was given a brief handover from the lead paramedic who was dealing with a patient that had sustained serious deceleration injuries due to the mechanisms involved. The paramedic stated,” the patient is mechanically trapped we have to wait for the fire service to cut him free”. Our priority at this stage was to prevent further deterioration of the patient and to promote his recovery by means of reassurance, pain relief in addition to treating the various injuries that he had sustained. I calculated the fire brigade would be with us very shortly, due to the fact the occupants of the other car involved were being extricated and loaded into awaiting ambulances by members of The Hazardous Area Response Team (HART). I decided that this would be an appropriate time to lead a discussion within the group on how the extraction would take place.
This reflection has improved my awareness of clinical leadership in the pre hospital setting.
FEELINGS
Approaching the incident was extremely hazardous due to the road surface being covered with various car components, to add to this members of the public were walking freely about the scene. Once at the casualty I was quick to ascertain he was time critical and my Paramedic colleague needed my assistance, I felt confident developing from a passive follower to a leader, this also allowed the Paramedic to treat additional casualties at the scene. Atwal & Caldwell,(2006)state,” being part of a multidisciplinary team requires many skills; this involves understanding not only one's own role but also the role of other pra...
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In any major accident, it is important that everyone involved in the co-ordinated planned response liaise with all Health services, Traffic control, Police, Fire services, ambulance and hospital. The action at an accident starts as: assessing the situation, in the management of an incident one of the most important steps is evaluating the scene accurately.
... Joe, and Paul Barr. “Call to Action Through Tragedy.” Modern Health Care (2012). Academic Search Complete. Web. 20 Feb. 2015.
Waugh, William L, and Gregory Streib. "Collaboration and Leadership for Effective Emergency Management." Public Administration Review, 66.6 (2006): 131-140.
The formal “authority” for this issue is WA State Central Region EMS and Trauma Council with Harborview Hospital being its leader. Harborview’s authority in King County was established well before this issue arose. A top-down approach is being used to control the resolution of this issue. This is a driving force. It works well because “the environment is stable and tasks are well understood.”
This paper will discuss the internal organizational conflict that occurred in the Wake County Department of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) after the formation of the Advanced Practice Paramedic Division (APP). Wake County EMS (WCEMS) is the sole entity with in the Wake county Government structure that is charged with providing prehospital emergency medical care to the visitors and citizens of Wake County. This paper is based on the opinion of the writer; it does not and is not reflective of the department’s opinion or the stance of the county.
Envision yourself in a deep sleep, your spouse lying next to you. For seven years of marriage, your greatest quandary has been your partners obnoxious snoring. Now, you are rattled awake by the wailing of your smoke detector, just outside your bedroom door. You hear the sobbing of your three month old baby boy from just down the hall, and feel the tug of you five year old son on the sleeve of your t-shirt. Forced out the second story window by the fuming blaze barricading the only outlet of the room, you free fall 22 feet onto the frozen ground. Beyond smoke inhalation and second degree burns, you now have a fractured ankle and several severe lacerations. Your spouse, your eldest son, and yourself are now free from the bloodthirsty inferno. Sirens howl, two blocks away. A rescue engine, equipped with three firefighters, is first on scene- 18 minute response time. A second engine arrives, equipped with three firefighters- 23 minute response time. Twenty-five minutes after the initial alarm, a hand line is pulled. Incident commander declares the residence unsafe for entrance. This rescue mission has now become a recovery mission.
There was inappropriate staffing in the Emergency Room which was a factor in the event. There was one registered nurse (RN) and one licensed practical nurse (LPN) on duty at the time of the incident. Additional staff was available and not called in. The Emergency Nurses Association holds the position there should be two registered nurses whose responsibility is to prov...
Williams, B, Brown, T & Onsman, A 2012, ‘From stretcher-bearer to paramedic: The Australian paramedics’ move towards professionalisation’, Australian Journal of Paramedicine, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 8, viewed 12 May 2014, < http://ro.ecu.edu.au/jephc/vol7/iss4/8/>
Disastrous events can occur in any moment throughout our lives whether involved as a victim or a provider of care for such event. The role of healthcare professionals, nurses and personnel alike is important to ensure proper patient care, especially for events that are quick and sudden. These events are categorized as Mass Casualty Events (MCE), and they are known to overwhelm local resources of surrounding facilities, consisting of injured or ill patients in need of immediate care (Smith, 2010). Recent incidents such as the Boston Marathon Bombing (2013), Hurricane Katrina (2005), and the Chatsworth Metrolink Collision (2008) are examples of such events.
I am not a qualified first aid officer so if an accident does occur to
I believe that if you asked a group of people to list off issues regarding an emergency department then they would say long wait times throughout the process and being moved around to different areas of the emergency department. From what I have heard the long waits can be associated with waiting to get back to a room, waiting to see a nurse, waiting to see a doctor, waiting to go to radiology or lab, waiting on results, waiting to be discharged, or waiting to be admitted. All of these things in my opinion add up to one main problem, which is patient flow through an emergency department. In my opinion being able to have a controlled patient flow allows for improved wait times and decreased chaos for patients. So there are a few things
Emergency care has always been an important part of history all over the world. It has been said that medical assistance has been around and prevalent since as far back as 1500 B.C. Around the 1700’s is when EMS systems first began to experience large advancements, and ever since then, the field continues to grow and improve every year.
A disaster is not a simple emergency. A disaster is that point when a human is suffering and has a devastating situation which they themselves need help from others to survive. Regardless if natural or human caused, a disaster causes a vast amount of issues in the community. In the simulation of “Disaster in Franklin County reveals that preparation is key and even with that more can be addressed. A community nurse remains an essential part of the team involved in a disaster including before, during, and after the event.
Emergency management has been described for the past three decades as a “four phase” process, involving:
Developing emergency training programs make sure that in case of an accident, workers know exactly what to do and act according to the emergency plan to avoid panic and confusion. Consistency in these training is important because it will keep the workers’ skill harp in how to deal with situations.