ER displays aim to ease delays for paramedics

Ottawa paramedics are turning to technology to keep hospital emergency rooms up to speed on where they are, and to reduce the amount of time they have to wait around to answer their next 911 call.

It means the next person to call 911 will hopefully get an ambulance quicker because there's more available.- Greg Furlong, deputy chief, Ottawa Paramedic Service

Theparamedic service is installing large monitors at the city's four adult hospitals. Using data from the city's emergency dispatch system, the screens will display real-time information showing when ambulances are on their way to an ER, and when it's taking too long for paramedics to be redeployed after dropping off a patient.

Ambulance monitors add 'transparency,' paramedic chief says

7 years ago

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Monitors showing real-time dispatch information coming to 4 Ottawa hospitals

It's hoped the system will cut down on what's known as "offload delays" the time paramedics spend sitting around overcrowded hospitals before they can handtheir patients over for care.

On a bad dayparamedics canwaitup to five hours time they're not able to spend responding to new emergencies.

"The improvement in offload means patients are going to receive care from the emergency department faster," said Greg Furlong, deputy chief of the paramedic service."It means the next person to call 911 will hopefully get an ambulance quicker because there's more available."

Level zero alerts

The initiativefollows numerous instances whenthe city slipped into what paramedics call "level zero."That's when there isn't a single available ambulanceto respond to an emergency.

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Level zero alerts used to be rare, but in 2016 they occurredmore than 250 times, according to data obtained by CBCNews though an access to information request.

Darryl Wilton, president of the Professional Paramedic Association of Ottawa, saidmore than a year later,level zero alerts continue to ring out.

"That's something that we hear daily," Wilton said. "As recentlyas last week you would hear level alarms going off all night long for long stretches."

The city has hired more paramedicsto help deal with the issue, but Ottawa is also dealing with a growing number of911 calls, Wilton said.

"Wedefinitelyneed to try something new and innovative to get resources back inthecity."

Pressure on hospitals

The first monitors wereinstalled last week at theMontfortHospital and the Ottawa Hospital's Civic campus. A third screen is coming to the General campus in the next seven days, and theQueensway-Carleton'swill follow soon after.

The screens are programmed toturn red when paramedics have beenwaiting more than 30 minutes to offload a patient.

Dr.Shaun Visser, medical director of the Montfort'semergency unit, saidthe bright red alerts could act as "peer pressure" to encouragehospital staff to get paramedics back on the road, because the monitorsshow how all the hospitals are dealing with demand.

"Youactually see your offload time in real time in all the emergency departments in the city," said Visser, who's also the emergency department lead for the Champlain Local Health IntegrationNetwork."So it allows everybody to be on the same playing field and be aware of where the pressures in the system are."

System more efficient

Before the new technology came along, ERstaffhad to call around to find out which hospitals had capacity to receive patients, and direct paramedics accordingly. The new system promises to bemore efficient, Vissersaid.

"We're hoping the new system will actually allow that to be done automatically to a certain degree."

The city's dispatch centre could use the tool to more evenlydistribute ambulances to hospitals throughout the day, based on capacity.

Another advantage is that the system shows hospital staff exactly when an ambulance will arrive, so staff have time to prepare for the patient, especially in critical cases.

Furlong said a version of the technology could one day be made publicso everyone can see where paramedics are, but that's a long way off.