Ambulances held hostage: Overcoming hospital bed delays

Steve Wirth and Doug Wolfberg join host Rob Lawrence to discuss strategies for overcoming hospital bed delays

Are you looking for strategies to unilaterally decrease hospital bed delays that are keeping you from getting back into service?

“Direct answers to really hard questions.“

"Straightforward, no-nonsense suggestions for improvement and cooperation.”

“The presenters are real and unscripted and the SMEs of the business.”

Doug Wolfberg, Esq.; Steve Wirth, Esq.; and Rob Lawrence discussed EMS legal and ethical responsibility to patients at the ED in an on-demand EMS1 event, "Ambulances held hostage." Get the answers to your questions, including, “When can we leave?”

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This episode of EMS One Stop is sponsored by Blink; the mobile app helping EMS providers to better communicate with their field staff. Learn more about how Blink's two-way communications features are helping to reduce first responder turnover at www.joinblink.com.

In the light of the series of articles on ambulance patient offload times and hospital bed delays by Page, Wolfberg & Wirth, host Rob Lawrence is joined by PW&W Attorneys Doug Wolfberg, Esq.; and Steve Wirth, Esq. A solid discussion takes place on the EMS legal and ethical obligations to patients at the ED, and strategies to combat hospital bed delays, as well as the downloadable tip sheet also available at EMS1.

Learn more about ambulances held hostage

A guide to hospital bed delays. FAQs and quick tips from Wolfberg and Wirth
Can the hospital make you stay? Leveling the playing field on hospital bed delays
Should we stay or should we go? How to decide when to leave patients at hospitals with bed delays and 3 considerations for if you stay
EMS strategies for reducing ambulance offload times. The rights of EMS agencies and remedies for hospital bed delays
Hospital bed delays: An iceberg with titanic challenges. Lessons from Pinellas County and an AIMHI EMTALA webinar

About the author

Rob Lawrence has been a leader in civilian and military EMS for over a quarter of a century. He is currently the director of strategic implementation for PRO EMS and its educational arm, Prodigy EMS, in Cambridge, Massachusetts, and part-time executive director of the California Ambulance Association.

He previously served as the chief operating officer of the Richmond Ambulance Authority (Virginia), which won both state and national EMS Agency of the Year awards during his 10-year tenure. Additionally, he served as COO for Paramedics Plus in Alameda County, California.

Prior to emigrating to the U.S. in 2008, Rob served as the COO for the East of England Ambulance Service in Suffolk County, England, and as the executive director of operations and service development for the East Anglian Ambulance NHS Trust. Rob is a former Army officer and graduate of the UK's Royal Military Academy Sandhurst and served worldwide in a 20-year military career encompassing many prehospital and evacuation leadership roles.

Rob is a board member of the Academy of International Mobile Healthcare Integration (AIMHI) as well as chair of the American Ambulance Association’s State Association Forum. He writes and podcasts for EMS1 and is a member of the EMS1 Editorial Advisory Board. Connect with him on Twitter.