Community Paramedicine

Emergency wait times. They’ve become almost a running Canadian joke. "Prolonged waits in Canada's ERs are now accepted as normal, but the problem is both unnecessary and solvable," says Dr. Alan Drummond, past president of the Canadian Association of Emergency Physicians (CAEP) who is running a campaign to increase the number of beds in hospitals (Patrick Sullivan, 2004). 

Something that could greatly reduce wait times in Emergency Rooms would be community paramedics. What is community paramedicine? “It’s a simple concept: Connect underutilized resources to underserved populations. In this case, we’re expanding the roles of EMS workers to provide health services where access to physicians, clinics and/or hospitals is difficult or may not exist.” (Community Paramedic, 2011). We all know how long ER wait times are, and when a patient has a chronic issue, such as osteoporosis, diabetes, high blood pressure, high cholesterol, or need help but do not qualify for a personal support worker, community paramedics could provide the link between the hospital and the patient. If a community paramedic came to a patient’s home and regularly helped them to monitor their blood sugars, and explain their medications to them thoroughly, what are the chances that they would later be taken to a hospital with hypoglycemia or hyperglycemia?  

References

Sullivan, P. (2004). Emergency MDs call for quick action on ER wait times. Retrieved from http://www.cma.ca/index.php?ci_id=40157&la_id=1

Community paramedics helping those on the fringes. (2011). Retrieved from

http://www.ctv.ca/CTVNews/Health/20110110/community-paramedics-110110/