What is the base station?
A dispatch and coordination area, it is in contact with all other elements of the system. A central communication hub.
Info about base station. Location, power, and antenna
The station should be on a suitable terrain, preferably a hill and be in proximity to the hospital. It uses aprox 80-150 watts and the base station should have an antenna equipped within short distance which helps with transmission and reception efficiency.
Who limits transmission power levels?
Federal Communications Commission. (FCC)
What are repeaters?
Devices that receive transmissions from a relatively low-powered source and then rebroadcast them at another frequency and higher power. Relay device.
What is telemedicine?
When technology connects the Ems provider and the patient remotely to health care practitioners for advanced assessment and care to avoid unnecessary hospital visits. This is most often done through Mobile Intrgrated Healthcare (MIH)
What are some functions of the federal communications commission?
Since the FCC has jurisdiction over all radio operations , they
-license individual base station operations
-assign radio call signs
-approve equipment for use
-establish limitations for transmitting power output
-assigns radio frequencies
-monitors field operatives.
What are some broadcast regulations set by the federal communications commission?
They try their best to limit interference with emergency radio and profanity.
What are the ground rules for radio communication
- Turn on the radio and select the correct frequency
- Listen before transmitting to ensure channel is clear
- Push the press to talk and wait 1 second before speaking.
- Speak with your lips about 2-3 inches from the mic
- Address the unit you are calling by its name and number and identify your own unit.
- Wait for the unit to signal you to continue or wait with “go ahead” or “standby”
- If transmissions take more than 30 seconds pause for a few seconds to allow other units the chance to use the frequency.
- Speak plain english and be direct, get to the point. No codes or slang
- When transmitting a number, save the individual numbers after. Ex 30, three zero
- Do not diagnose the patient and only give your subjective and objective information.
- When receiving orders, use the echo method and repeat the order word-for-word.
- Write down important information.
- Protect your patient’s privacy by not using confidential information in your transmissions
- Say we instead of I
- Say affirmative and negative rather than yes or no. Yes or no can be hard to hear.
- When you are done transmitting, say over and wait for confirmation the other unit has received your message.
Who will you first contact on a run?
Probably dispatch. a certified emergency medical dispatcher. (EMD)
What can new advanced automatic collision notification do?
Found in many newer car models. This technology can provide the exact location of a crash vehicle and indicate change in velocity during the crash, direction of force, airbag deployment, roll over and occurrence of multiple collisions which may help the EMS unit gather more info about the severity of the crash. Which may dictate injury severity, transportation mode whether air or ground, and which medical facility to go to.
True or false calls with dispatch are often recorded.
True. It may even come up during a court case so be professional, concise and accurate on radio.
What should you ensure with dispatch that was done?
- To acknowledge that the dispatched core information was received
- To advise dispatch when the unit is en route to the call
- To estimate your timer arrival at the scene and to report any special road conditions
- To announce your units arrival on the scene and to request any additional resources and to help coordinate the response.
- To announce the units departure from the scene and to announce the destination hospital and number patients transported and ETA to arrive at hospital
- To announce your arrival at the receiving facility.
- To announce that you are clear and available for another assignment once the patient has been transferred
- To announce that you are leaving the hospital and on your way back to the station
- To announce your arrival back at the station.
When talking with medical direction what information should you always provide?
- your units identification and its level of service, either basic life support or advanced life support. (BLS or ALS)
- the patient’s age and sex
- the patient’s chief complaint.
- the need for special services, such as trauma team or a request to transport to specialized center.
- pertinent history of the present illness, including scene assessment and mechanism of injury.
- major pass illnesses
- the patient’s mental status
- the patient’s baseline vital signs
- pertinent. findings of your physical examination.
- description of emergency medical care, you administrated.
- the patient’s response to emergency medical care.
- patience current condition
- request for further action/interventions at receiving facility
- eta
To ensure that you have communicated your information accurately to medical direction. What additional guidelines should you follow?
-Be sure that the information you provided to medical direction is accurate and that you reported in a clear understandable way.
- after receiving an order for medical direction, repeat the order back word-for-word.
- if you do not understand an order.Ask for it to be repeated , then repeat back word for word
- if an order for medical direction appears to be inappropriate, question the order.
What does SBAR
Situation: the problem and the reason why you are calling and the patient’s chief complaint
Background: a concise description of past medical history and the patient’s response to treatment to that point
Assessment: pertinent, subjective and objective assessment findings such as mental status, vital signs, neurological findings, BGL and glasgow coma scale.
Recommendation: what you’re requesting for the patient, such as an order to administer another nitroglycerin.
SBAR, unlike CHIVE is particularly useful when you are communicating with medical direction and seeking further orders.
What do you need to communicate to your receiving facility
- your units identification and its level of service, either basic life support or advanced life support. (BLS or ALS)
- the patient’s age and sex
- the patient’s chief complaint.
- the need for special services, such as trauma team or a request to transport to specialized center.
- pertinent history of the present illness, including scene assessment and mechanism of injury.
- major pass illnesses
- the patient’s mental status
- the patient’s baseline vital signs
- pertinent. findings of your physical examination.
- description of emergency medical care, you administrated.
- the patient’s response to emergency medical care.
- patience current condition
- eta
And why should you always resess the patient before making it to the receiving facility
So that way you could tell the receiving facility whether or not the patient’s condition is deteriorating or improving
Why are radio codes used?
Shorter radio airtime and provide clear and concise information.
What are disadvantages to using radio codes
The codes are useless unless everyone in the system understands them. Secondly, medical information is often too complex for codes. Thirdly, some codes are infrequently used, so valuable time may be wasted looking up the codes meeting.
Who published the ten-code system?
Associated public safety communication officers (APCO)
Do most ems systems use radio codes?
No, most abandoned codes and use standard English
Radio codes:
1.break
2.clear
3.in
4.copy
5.ETA
6.go ahead
7.landline
8.over
9.repeat/ say again
10.spell out
11.stand by
12.10-4
1.afford a pause
2. End of transmission
3. Requesting acknowledgement of transmission
4. Message received and understood
5. Estimated time arrival
6. Proceed with message
7. Refers to telephone communication
8. End of message
9. Did not understand message
10. Ask to spell out words
11. Please wait
12. Acknowledging that message is rechieved and understood
communication responses
Facilitation: encourage the patient to speak “mhm” “go on”
Clarification: ask the patient to clarify and restate themselves if you didn’t understand them
Summary: rephrase what the patient said to the patient to ensure your info is correct
Explanation: you will need to answer patients questions about procudes and treatment etc
Silence: allow the patient’s time to gather their thoughts
Reflection: talk back to the patient and understand their issues
Empathy: be kind and professional. Put yourself in their shoes
Confrontation: be stern with the patient and be in control but not rude
Facilitated communication: help them perhaps by touch and guiding them to use technology to communicate if needed
What guidelines should you follow when communicating with the patient
- First impressions are important. So dress professionally and approach your patients with compassion and confidence.
- when you approach the patient introduce yourself using the name you want to be called and also ask for the patient’s name/preferred name. Older folk like formality like Mrs and ms.
- introduce the rest of the team to the patient.
- gain consent by saying I’m going to help you is that all right?
- don’t be surprised if patients say no or I’m okay because they may be going through denial. Try shifting the patient’s focus to gain consent to inspect them.
- speak clearly, calmly and slowly and speak like an average person. Don’t be using medical abbreviations or terminology.
- use the professional tone of voice
- respect the patient’s privacy and try to limit the number of bystanders.
- limit interruptions when communicating with your patient
- be aware of your body language and and positioning in relation to the patient. Eye level
- try to control the physical environment by making sure that you limit noise. Have good lighting and turn off distracting equipment.
- be courteous and nice and always explain what you are doing.And be honest with them and apologize for necessary discomfort. It gives them a sense of control
- actively listen to your patient when they ask a question reply as fully as you can unless you cannot, and if not, explain why
- be honest with the patient to earn their trust so that way they are a lot more cooperative
