VIII. Hospital Statuses
Hospital statuses allow the crew to know which hospitals are accepting patients and which are not. BC-EMS only transports patients to a select number of hospitals, located collectively in "Brooklyn South." We can call one phone number and get all the information we need for our area, instead of calling each hospital individually. Hospital statuses must be obtained during every shift, at least every four hours. Some possible statuses include:
- OPEN: This means that the hospital is accepting all patients.
- TOTAL: The hospital is not accepting any patients.
- EDP: The hospital is not accepting emotionally disturbed patients.
- OBG: The hospital is not accepting obstetric emergencies.
How to Obtain Hospital Statues
- Be sure to have a piece of paper at hand. You may want to write down the names of the hospitals before you call, so that you can just write down the status next to each hospital name as you are on the phone.
- Call MARS at the number 422-7393 (which can be found on the dispatcher's desk).
- Say: "This is 93John. Can I please have the hospital statuses for Brooklyn South?"
- Write down what the person says.
- Ask for the person's dispatcher number.
- Log the information in the log book.
Example:
14:05 Hospital Statuses: Kings Highway on TOTAL until 1600, Brookdale on EDP, all rest OPEN as per #678:
8 Update the crew board.
During a Call
If, for whatever reason, there is no answer at the number for hospital statuses and you are in the middle of an emergency:
- Call each of the hospitals on the crew board and tell them that you are calling from Brooklyn College EMS. Let them know that you are in the middle of an emergency and you need to know if that hospital is open.
- Write down the responses you receive.
- Let the crew chief know the statuses.
- After the call is over, tell the crew chief what happened.
