Nova Scotia emergency health servicesWhich is responsible for ground ambulances, is changing the way it dispatches Associate In light of the increase in demand and a strained health care system.
Jeff Fraser, Executive Director EHS The branch of the Department of Health and Welfare says they want “the ability to send the right provider to the right patient at the right time”.
“That’s what we’re really trying to re-engineer here,” he told Global News.
“Our system has experienced about a four percent increase in demand consistently over the last 10 years. All of this demand doesn’t mean everyone is seriously ill, but these are the demands we’re dealing with.”
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Earlier this month, Province unveils a slate of works It says that emergency care will improve, after tales of two women His death after a long seven-hour wait in emergency rooms sent shockwaves across the province.
The Department of Health says it will begin hiring physician assistants and nurse practitioners to provide care in emergency departments.
Scott Sturgeon, a paramedic, spoke with Global News this week and said frequent delays in offloading to the ER and an increase in calls have made his job increasingly difficult.
He says paramedics are often filling in the gaps for primary care, and also responding to non-emergency calls.
“Once I’m in there, I can’t leave that person. So, I could hear a cardiac arrest, I could hear a stroke, I could hear a seizure going off next door, and I could not go. So I need to go ahead and end that call.’
According to Fraser, about four out of every 10 patients seen by EHS are not delivered to the hospital.
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The system change now sees consultation between on-scene paramedics and clinical staff in the Medical Communications Center, resulting in the creation of health plans for patients.
“Instead of moving those people from their homes to the hospital, we will expand our service that we can and make them more comfortable,” Fraser said.
“Then if we have to move them to the hospital, we coordinate it in a way that it’s best for the patient, best for the system.”
Fraser says he is confident, but admits “it’s going to get a little worse before it gets better.”
“What I see is that we are absolutely on the right track here.”
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