By Chandra Broadwater
St. Petersburg Times
BROOKSVILLE, Fla. — After working out in the yard one recent afternoon, a Spring Hill man came inside his home with a massive headache. Minutes later, Spring Hill Fire Rescue paramedics were at his house.
Following statewide stroke assessment protocols set in 2005, the crew had the man flown to a Tampa hospital, where a team of doctors found the source of his headache, an aneurism, and rushed him to surgery within hours of his arrival.
“Two hours after surgery, he woke up asking for pizza and coffee,” Jim Zabetka, a Spring Hill Fire Rescue training officer, told a group of regional emergency service officials on Wednesday. “What we all did saved his life.”
According to Dr. Joe Nelson, state emergency services director, more standards such as these, along with technological advances in state medical care, could save more Floridians.
The keynote speaker at the event held at Brooksville Regional Hospital, Nelson talked to emergency medical services officials from around the region about state emergency services. Along with representatives from Hernando County, officials from Citrus, Sumter and Lake counties attended the session.
The goal of such talks is to help the EMS community understand which areas need work and which successes to celebrate, Nelson said.
While at the top of the national list when it comes to stroke and cardiac treatment, one area in which Florida needs to improve is in patient safety, the director said.
One study revealed that about 9 percent of 350 paramedics admitted to making medical errors. These mistakes range from giving the wrong dose of medication to misplacing breathing tubes into the esophagus, rather than the trachea.
In Florida, the state has made progress in correcting major errors that can be fatal, such as misplaced breathing tubes, Nelson said. A mandate that went into effect this year requires all emergency crews that perform intubations to use special machinery to monitor patients, ensuring that such errors are found before it’s too late.
When compared with the rest of the state, the director added, Hernando is a front-runner in the use of this and other kinds of technology. Residents should feel safe with the quality of care and the people behind it, he said.
For example, in Hernando, recently purchased EKG machines will ultimately streamline the way heart attack patients are treated.
Dr. Robert Blackburn, Hernando’s medical director of emergency services, said the machines allow emergency room doctors in facilities that have interventional cardiology programs to access the same information as paramedics and prepare before patients arrive.
“This new tool will tell us exactly in the heart where the attack is happening,” he said. “It’s going to save lives. And that’s exactly why we brought everyone here today.”