EDITOR'S NOTE: The following is an excerpt from an article by Larry Beresford, originally published on EMS World on April 3rd, 2024. Check out the full article here.
Telemedicine for the EMS personnel of MedStar Mobile Healthcare, a governmental EMS system in Fort Worth, Texas, is linked through an app on their Android hand-held phones, says Matt Zavadsky, MS-HSA, NREMT, MedStar’s chief transformation officer.
“The crew does everything with their Android phone. They get their calls and their post moves, they get routed by the live routing system, they text with dispatch, they text with each other,” Zavadsky explains. “When they get to the scene of a call, they pop the phone out of its drop-in cradle charger at the front of the truck and bring it with them.”
Telemedicine, which can connect them virtually with physicians from integrative emergency services and the physician with the patient, has been a positive experience for MedStar’s field staff, Zavadsky says. “Every EMT or paramedic who works out in the field knows that a fair percentage, some might say the majority, of our patients, don’t actually need to go to the emergency room.” Is it safe for this patient to go to urgent care? Can they get a prescription written for a new medicine or refill an existing prescription?
A virtual physician visit can answer these questions, and having that telemedicine backup facilitates the paramedics and EMTs to provide more patient-centric care, says Zavadsky, who also takes occasional EMT shifts himself. “We are helping the patient navigate the health care system to the most appropriate setting. One of the tools we use is telemedicine, just like we use a 12-lead EKG monitor.”