Ambulance efficiency affected by backlog of patients
Posted Feb 5, 2010 04:59:29 AM.
This article is more than 5 years old.
An increase in traffic at the Grand River Hospital emergency department took a major bite out of efficiency for the local ambulance provider.
A backlog of patients meant there were many times paramedics arrived with patients and had to wait with them for hours until they could be seen by staff instead of heading back out onto the road.
This morning’s Record reports, statistics show that added up to almost 190 24-hour days of ambulance coverage.
In other words, if you were to roll that into just one ambulance, that would be equal to having an ambulance sit idle at a hospital for six months.
That’s also a staggering 23-per cent increase over 2008.
Two nurses were brought in last year to focus only on ambulance patients, but it appears they were often shifted to other duties due to the high volume of patients.
This program is also coming to St.Mary’s Hospital, starting this weekend, for a two month trial period.
Officials blame the increased E-R load, in part, on a shortage of nursing homes and long-term care beds in the region.
