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In this week’s Inside EMS Podcast, hosts Chris Cebollero and Kelly Grayson discuss the challenges in documentation – from spelling errors, to not taking pride in your record.
“No one wants to believe they’re poor at documentation,” Grayson said. But being cross examined in court is not the right time to discover you don’t have a good chart, he said.
Cebollero discussed the challenges that come with being told false information by patients, but also pointed out that documentation is what leads to funding.
“This is what pays the bills,” he said. “This is where we get the money in.”
In the news portion, they talk about a Mich. ambulance service that shut down to avoid bankruptcy.
“You have to ask, what’s the cost of doing business?” Grayson said. “What’s the cost of providing quality medical care to your community? Apparently they think $75,000 a year is too much.”
They also discuss a threat by Arizona’s Southwest Ambulance to go on strike over pension pay.
By law the company would have to give Rural/Metro 10 days’ notice, and the parent company says it has a contingency plan in place.
“It’s not about a contingency plan,” Cebollero said. “It’s getting back to the table and giving workers the feeling you’re listening to what they’re saying.”
Grayson points out the EMS union is not asking for money, but rather $8 million in pension funds – which helps ensure workers make a career out of EMS and retire from the industry
“You’d think they could sit together and hash out their differences,” Grayson said.
They also talk about Sioux Falls, S.D., which won an appeal to contract with Paramedics Plus, and discuss an ambulance rollover that injured three people in Ohio when the driver veered into the median for unknown reasons.
