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I was in the ED today, helping admit Internal Medicine patients, when we came across a patient whose data was contradictory–we weren’t sure if she lived in a nursing home (and if so, which one) or an apartment; she had both an extended-care style medication record and a face sheet from adult day care claiming she lived in an apartment (and gave the complex name, which I couldn’t find online or in the phone book, rather than the address).  Even the EMS tripsheet didn’t specify exactly what kind of facility she was at, and the “location of call” field didn’t match the adult day care address.

That was when I noticed a private ambulance company’s crew sitting in the EMS room.

Say what you want about crews that do a lot of interfacility runs–when it comes to knowing places and directions, nobody’s better.  (And frankly, given some of the things I’ve seen in the field, I’m not sure the care is automatically any worse than among those providers who do primarily 911 calls.)

Filed under: EMS