Code Transport

[Jon]

The question was raised in another thread about transporting patients to the hospital in full arrest.

Lets discuss this.

I belive some of the conventional wisdom is that they are already dead, so why risk the lives of everyone on the road.


Lets discuss:

 

[rescuecpt]

I said lights/sirens & moderate speed, but that is for someone considered salvageable. The longer you wait, the more the heart dies... but with ALS on board you can do what the hospital can do so I agree, why risk your own lives and the public-in-general's lives.

 

[emtbuff]

Okay I said light/sirens and moderate speed. Most of the time our transport time is less than 5 min. So we go as fast as we can if necessary. But with moderate speed which is normally done I figure you are watching out for others so that you don't do something not so good.

 

[ma2va92]

light/sirens .. and get on it... we have about 20min.. to the ED.... if and only if it was a witness code.. being it make take about 15 to 20 to get to the pt... alot of the time we just do the report for a DOA

 

[SafetyPro2]

The difference between moderate speed and fast as possible is somewhat subjective. My personal opinion is no more than 15 mph over the speed limit should be the top speed during Code 3 driving, and possibly less than that depending on road conditions, traffic, etc. Then again, that's based on the conditions my department faces, where we're usually looking at a 5 minute max transport time because of our proximity to the hospital. I might feel differently in, say, a rural area with extended transport distances.

Still, I don't think you should drive any faster than you can comfortably drive and control the ambulance, and it should be based on road conditions, traffic and setting. A straight, open road with little traffic is different than going through a town with cars and pedestrians, as is driving on a wet or icy road.

So, I voted for moderate speed with RLS, with the understanding that my definition of moderate might be different than yours.

 

[SCEMT-B]

I chose class two, reason being is we need to get them there if theyre salvageable but also we should take into consideration our saftey as well. I agree with not going 15 miles over the speed limit code 3. Moderate is fine but if we're going all out and we crash how does that save out pt? We die our pt dies. Also driving fast doesnt give the best ride to your partner in the back either making it that much harder for them to work on the PT. Its a hard call to make what speed to use espcialy when your pumped up, but myself personaly I keep it moderate with the lights and siren going.

 

[KEVD18]

witnessed arrest with down time of less than 5 minutes, priority one(lights, sirens, speed, yelling out the window, the whoe nine)

unwitnessed arrest w/ dt of >5, p2, lights sirens mederate speed. rush but safely

unwitnessed arrest w/ dt >10 min, p3. no lghts, no siren. no rush