AHS Ambulances not available in Calgary, Police and Fire often step in.

[ExtraSlow]

Not criticising the paramedics themselves, but there seems to be chronic system-wide under staffing leading. This leads to Police and Fire being primary responders for medical calls pretty often, and even occasionally transporting patients to hospitals when no ambulance is available.
Something like HALF of all fire call in Calgary are primarily medical in nature.
The handoff between provincial responsibility for ambulance and municipal responsibility for police and fire males it seem like a case of robbing Peter to pay Paul. Taxpayers aren't winning.


https://calgaryherald.com/news/local...mbulance-crews



Several municipalities want to take back control of Ambulances from AHS. I don't know how much that will help, but the current system is pretty broken. Probably more paramedics is a part of the solution. Faster turnaround at the hospitals is clearly needed.

I know we have members who are much more knowledgeable than I am. Would love to hear thier thoughts.

[killramos]

A wise man once said:

“Stop treating overdoses”

[jutes]

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A wise man once said:

“Stop treating overdoses”

Just reclassify overdoses as emergencies.

We need to stop treating emergency rooms like fucking walk-in clinics. If you aren't dying or need urgent treatment make an appointment. Oh wait, we don't have enough staff to cover walk-in clinics or family doctors either. Canada. Best in the world.

[max_boost]

Had dinner with a firefighter bro awhile back and he said when calls come in, it’s whoever gets there first and sometimes FF gets there first. And yup, he would know some of those OD guys cuz of multiple visits. If there’s a shortage, kk then that sucks. Pay more money? Better recruitment?

[cet]

One of the bigger issues is requiring the paramedics to wait at the hospital with their patients regardless of how severe the injury is. This can take the paramedics out of rotation for hours. If they could transfer the patient to the care of the hospital quickly and get back out there you'd solve most of the problem.

[Xtrema]

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One of the bigger issues is requiring the paramedics to wait at the hospital with their patients regardless of how severe the injury is. This can take the paramedics out of rotation for hours. If they could transfer the patient to the care of the hospital quickly and get back out there you'd solve most of the problem.

I just don't get this policy at all. Is it just cheaper to tie up a paramedic then properly staff an emergency room?

[killramos]

Government work is 90% about making things someone else problem.

[colsankey]

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I just don't get this policy at all. Is it just cheaper to tie up a paramedic then properly staff an emergency room?

It’s probably a combination of not enough money to properly staff hospitals, and no one is willing to accept the risk of having a patient left and taking a turn for the worse. So the policy, to keep a decision maker from being sued is ambulance attendants babysit until the hospital admits.

[Xtrema]

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Government work is 90% about making things someone else problem.

When AHS runs the hospital and City runs the paramedics, I can see why this policy exists by pushing the cost to the City.

Now AHS runs both so it's not even wasting a different organization's money any more.

That said, they can't even keep some some emergency rooms in this province staffed so I don't see anything is changing soon.

[suntan]

It's almost like limiting who becomes a doctor to the top 0.01% of the population has consequences.

[HHURICANE1]

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One of the bigger issues is requiring the paramedics to wait at the hospital with their patients regardless of how severe the injury is. This can take the paramedics out of rotation for hours. If they could transfer the patient to the care of the hospital quickly and get back out there you'd solve most of the problem.

This. There is more time wasted with the ambulance crews having to wait hours for the drunks and the druggies to be admitted and be their babysitters. The hospitals should have to be responsible for the patients brought in with a minimal turn around time for the ambulance crews to inform the hospital of the vitals etc. and then get them back out on the streets where they belong.

[killramos]

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When AHS runs the hospital and City runs the paramedics, I can see why this policy exists by pushing the cost to the City.

Now AHS runs both so it's not even wasting a different organization's money any more.

That said, they can't even keep some some emergency rooms in this province staffed so I don't see anything is changing soon.

I’m not even talking about something as rational as pushing costs around.

I mean if an individual nurse in the hospital can make a junkie an EMT’s problem for an hour instead of hers she is going to do that 99/100 times.

And because nobody at AHS wears the big boy pants and makes people do their jobs and steer toward the greater goals, this is allowed to happen.

AHS’s middle management is a complete joke of squabbling toddlers. Them and every other government institution.

[3drian]

Ambulances are also not being staffed properly, their is not enough staff to cover all the shifts. This is public knowledge there are facebook pages that post the amount of unfilled paramedic shifts in the province. HSAA EMS on facebook.

[suntan]

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I’m not even talking about something as rational as pushing costs around.

I mean if an individual nurse in the hospital can make a junkie an EMT’s problem for an hour instead of hers she is going to do that 99/100 times.

And because nobody at AHS wears the big boy pants and makes people do their jobs and steer toward the greater goals, this is allowed to happen.

AHS’s middle management is a complete joke of squabbling toddlers. Them and every other government institution.

Ah, but they're well paid squabbling toddlers.

[Cagare]

We also have a number of family doctors either closing their practice or moving. Which is further compounding the problem for emergency rooms and so on. Even nurses changing careers because they don't feel as though the pay makes it worth it.

I am not sure if paying people more would recruit more people. Maybe I am just noticing, but it feels more now than ever that medical professionals are being treated like trash by their clients. I know this has happened in the past as I have heard this a lot from nurses. It just seems to be more intense than before though.

Again, maybe it's always been this way and I am just starting to see more of it, but society as a whole has gone way downhill in how we treat each other. This fuels further depression, drug addiction, spiraling to make it worse than before. Generally I have a neutral or positive outlook for the future, but it's become negative this past year.

[suntan]

Gov't controls price. Therefore there will be shortages. This is basic economics.

[Cagare]

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Gov't controls price. Therefore there will be shortages. This is basic economics.

This isn't new. It's happened in other markets before. It feels as though it's spinning through multiple medical professions now.

The one thing that isn't really captured in the news is the amount of suicides that are happening in smaller communities up north. It's gotten a lot worse in recent years.

[suntan]

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This isn't new. It's happened in other markets before. It feels as though it's spinning through multiple medical professions now.

The one thing that isn't really captured in the news is the amount of suicides that are happening in smaller communities up north. It's gotten a lot worse in recent years.

Well yeah as demand rises for the service and supply doesn't catch up this is what happens.

[killramos]

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Ambulances are also not being staffed properly, their is not enough staff to cover all the shifts. This is public knowledge there are facebook pages that post the amount of unfilled paramedic shifts in the province. HSAA EMS on facebook.

Solve the problem of paramedics spending a third of their shifts idling at hospitals babysitting patients and the “staff to cover shifts” problem balances itself.

The solution cannot always be more shifts.

[JustinL]

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medical professionals are being treated like trash by their clients. I know this has happened in the past as I have heard this a lot from nurses. It just seems to be more intense than before though.

It wasn't long ago that activists were protesting outside hospitals and hassling staff coming and going from work.