Transcript Slide 1
Community Paramedic Program
Rebecca Fessler
Saint Joseph’s Hospital
Social Worker, Inpatient Mental Health Unit
&
June Hove
Saint Joseph’s Hospital
Clinic Director, Inpatient Mental Health Unit & Inpatient
Addiction Medicine Unit
January 20, 2015
Community
Paramedic
Program
1/20/15
Community Paramedic Program
• Background
– Began June 9, 2014
• Approached by Paramedics looking for collaboration
• Started small with Mental Health unit – now added CD unit
• Provided education and training to Paramedics
– Crisis stabilization
– Shadowed staff, participated in groups, had 1:1 with
patients
– Introduced to patients
– Starting August 11, 2014 schedule changes for
paramedics to 8 hour shifts 4 days a week
Eligibility and Referral Process
• Began with Medicaid patients and now
expanded to all patients
• Offered to patients who are discharged
back to the community
– Home, shelters etc.
• Give patients up to 12 visits
Program
• Part of discharge planning
• Obtain order for service
• Provides areas of service including:
general/social interaction, vital signs, minor
medical procedures, ECG tracing,
immunizations/vaccinations, weight
monitoring, laboratory collection, medication
compliance, medication education, health
assessment and wound checks
Positive aspects
Paramedics can administer IM medications
Assess home condition – patient discharged home and found
eviction notice. Had been hospitalized 3 weeks and apartment a
mess. They helped clean up apartment, organize bills and take her
to get food
Check on follow up appointments and arrange transportation as
needed
Crisis stabilization – patients call them and they can go to the patient
or refer to urgent care or ED depending on situation
Set up medications – one patient had mistakenly set up medications
to be taken at PM and was taking at AM
They don’t bring attention to the patient – they arrive in cars with HE
Transportation stenciled on side instead of ambulance, they wear
street clothes instead of uniforms
Patients love this service
Measurement
Community Paramedic Visits
100
86
90
80
74
70
65
60
49
50
52
42
41
40
30
23
20
10
13
12
5
0
1
J-14
J
25
23
18
21
12
11
10
0
A
S
Initial
F/U
O
Total
N
D
Termination from Program
• Follow up visits arranged by Paramedics
• Often save the last scheduled visit to
evaluate progress
Questions?
Upcoming RARE Events….
RARE MH Collaborative Final Learning Day
Tuesday February 24, 2015
9:00am – 3:30pm
Maplewood Community Center
2100 White Bear Avenue, Maplewood, MN
Registration now open!
Register here
Future webinars…
To suggest future topics for this series,
Reducing Avoidable Readmissions
Effectively “RARE” Networking
Webinars, contact:
Kathy Cummings, [email protected]
Jill Kemper, [email protected]