By Jeff Starck
The Wausau Daily Herald
WAUSAU, Wis. — Local ambulance crews say they are following a state trend by using lights and sirens less often during calls in which lives are not in jeopardy in order to protect themselves and other motorists from crashes.
Preventing ambulance crashes By Art Hsieh, EMS1 Editorial Advisor As I have commented before, we are in a hazardous occupation. However, taking risks perhaps needlessly is never appropriate. In this case, crews are recognizing that running code 3 to a facility with a noncritical patient onboard is simply not worth the risk. I applaud this trend, and hope that other agencies follow suit. There is a bigger picture issue to this story: Does it bother you that we crash ambulances nearly every day in the United States? EMS news sites like this one are constantly posting stories of ambulance crashes. Mind you, these are the “newsworthy” ones. I will bet that many, many more happen daily but are not recorded by the media. I imagine there must be a database recording serious or fatal ambulance crashes, right? A place where we can analyze the large amount of data and come up with best practices to reduce the incidence of crashes and injuries? Well, we don’t. We know more about large commercial truck crashes than we do about ambulance crashes. In the absence of consistent, reliable data, how can we expect to improve? Then, I think: Well, shouldn’t ambulance vehicle training be part of any new EMS provider’s education? I mean, we train people about scene safety; personal protective equipment; exposure control; even health and wellness is covered by initial education standards. Yet ambulance operation information is often relegated to a small part of a training program, and there is virtually no practical training provided. Yes, it’s expensive, and yes operationally it might be very difficult to achieve. I know — we’ve talked about this issue in my program, and it’s been a challenge that we haven’t overcome — yet. Is there any wonder why we keep crashing? For our own safety, I hope this will change. Yes, our job can be risky — let’s just not make it an unnecessary risk. - Art Hsieh, EMS1 Editorial Advisor
|
According to national studies, ambulances that scream to calls with lights and sirens blazing only save between 30 seconds and a couple of minutes, though factors such as distance to medical facilities and urban versus rural settings influence the time.
Emergency responders rely on information provided to dispatchers to determine the speed of the response. A call reporting a person having heart problems, struggling to breathe or losing consciousness will demand a lights-and-siren response, emergency officials say. Calls for people with minor injuries, such as a request to transport someone to or from a nursing home, get slower responses.
The patient’s care is a priority, but the safety of the emergency responders and motorists comes first, said Schofield Assistant Fire Chief Rob Bowen. Motorists can become distracted and cause crashes around emergency vehicles, he said.
“If we can’t get there safely, we can’t do the patient any good,” Bowen said.
Though the exact totals for local departments aren’t known, Josh Klug, a firefighter and paramedic with the Merrill Fire Department, estimated that 10 percent to 25 percent of calls to his department are nonemergency responses.
Todd Williams, the interim director for the Wisconsin EMS Association, said lights and sirens serve to alert other motorists to get out of an ambulance’s path. Each emergency response department has to follow Department of Transportation rules of the road, but has the ability to set its own policy for how fast ambulances can drive with lights and sirens on, he said.
Wausau Fire Department Battalion Chief Doug Beula said an ambulance has a faster response by being able to drive through a red light at an intersection after all traffic has stopped, rather than just speeding.
“We are responsible for our own actions and drive with due regard for others,” Beula said.
There has been one significant ambulance crash in the Wausau area in recent years. A patient was killed and a Mosinee emergency medical technician was paralyzed in a crash in July 2003. A Rothschild police investigation concluded that the ambulance crashed because the driver was going too fast, the roads were wet and the ambulance’s tires were worn.
Republished with permission from The Wausau Daily Herald