At 10:43 PM 05/08/00 +0100, jeremy wrote:
> >
>Hmmmm, sounds like you need some effective triage, available 24 hours a
>day...perhaps available from a patients home...to help them make the
>decision about where best to get help before they leave home.
>
>Maybe a telephone service....bloody good idea Doc, I wonder if anyones
>thought of it. We could call it NHS Direct or something....:)
We have that in Quebec (Info-Santé)
And they do say it has impacted the ER visits
I'm sure that they have kept track of their statistics
And it would be worth looking into their methodology
BUT
If it as impacted in the number of ER visits ? ...
Well it's not clear to people that work in the ERs
The phone limits the quality of triage
Medically-legally you have to over triage
In reality you triage up probably as much as you triage down.
Meaning you advise people that where going to go to the ER, to go to other
resources
As much as you advise people that where not going to go to the ER in the
first place...
to go to the ER ! ?
A lot of people are still going to do whatever they want.
I think attempts at educating the public at "Objective" & learned triage, naive
And perhaps even dangerous
I would encourage anybody to do some pilot projects
But I entertain serious doubts.
Charles Brault EMT-P
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