Sedans May Replace Ambulances???

According to an article in today's Winnipeg Free Press (Sedans may replace ambulances), Winnipeg Fire Paramedic Service is considering the use of smaller vehicles to send paramedics to triage and treat non life-threatening calls. "Community paramedics" would be able to respond to certain 911 calls, assess and treat patients in their home and perhaps eliminate the need to transport these patients to an emergency room. Great idea on the surface...I've long been advocating the need to find alternative treatment schemes that reduce the number of patients transported to ERs in an effort to decrease wait times and better treat our patients.

But the Free Press article goes on to suggest that the responding paramedic might "call a taxi" or "strap the patient into the passenger's seat and provide a lift to an urgent-care clinic or even the ER". HUH???

Any system that looks at appropriate options to treat patients and leave them in the comfort of their home, transport certain patients to urgent-care or clinic settings in lieu of an emergency room or recommend patients follow-up with their personal physician to eliminate long and uneccesary waits in an ER waiting room is, in my view, a progressive system. But moving health care into a taxicab or the passenger seat of a rapid response unit is not appropriate.

According to senior city staff, the amount of time a Winnipeg ambulance is actually in use by a patient is "unparalleled in Canada" and much higher than accepted industry standards. Winnipeg has 21 transporting ambulances in service during peak periods. In comparison, the City of Ottawa has 10 Rapid Response Units and 40 transporting ambulances to serve a population base of about 900,000. Introducing "community paramedics" in Winnipeg in combination with an appropriate increase in transporting ambulances would improve unit utilization and provide improved patient care within that EMS system. Transporting patients in a cab or a single staffed paramedic unit will not!