Recently, I've had a thought or two in regards to the interface of ambulance staff and hospital staff, i.e. handing a patient over. Once particular point that I wanted sorted out was what the hospital based staff wanted to hear from us, so I could adjust my practices accordingly.
Well, it's not that easy. To part quote Dirty Harry: "Opinions are like assholes, everyone has one". Some want this done, some want that information included, but most are just happy with whatever you give them.
So I went on a little hunt, and grabbed a hospital "Emergency Chest Pain Assessment Pathway" form. It's an A4 leaflet (four pages) with all triage, assessment, history, medications and you name it conveniently written down in one form. Everything the hospital does assesses when they are presented with a patient complaining of chest pain.
I'm not sure where I stand i regards to copyright etc so I won't publish it, but here is the complete document how WA Health ACS Models of Care in pdf. extensive, but good to have a browse if you happen to work in Western Australia (and yes, they recommend 12 lead ECGs for the ambulance service...surprise surprise!)
So, the next time you are at your local Emergency Department, pop down to to the paperwork section, ask some staff about it and see if you can find some info to learn off. I'm going to sit down for a couple of minutes and do just that :-)
