'Swedish hospitals send ambulances too often'
Published: 4 Feb 13 12:25 CET | Print version
Online: http://www.thelocal.se/45990/20130204/
More ambulances are being sent out for minor injuries in Sweden as emergency workers are afraid of making a potentially fatal mistake, according to a new report.
- Old maps result in hour-long ambulance delay (12 Jan 13)
- Elderly woman dies after ambulance no-show (1 Oct 12)
- Paramedics opt for shift change, patient dies (17 Sep 12)
- 'Panicked callers' get better emergency help: Swedish study (19 Jun 12)
Emergency call operators are afraid of refusing a request for an ambulance and being hung out in the media if something goes wrong, wrote Eric Carlström, an ambulance nurse studying at University West.
"There's a whole bunch of patients who could have taken a taxi or other medical transport instead, while those people who are truly in need of help and need to be picked up in minutes are maybe made to wait for 40 minutes," Carlström said in a statement, according to the Dagens Nyheter newspaper.
In 2012, Sweden was hit with a number of cases where an ambulance no-show resulted in a death.
In January, a 22-year-old woman died after her request for help was denied because she was "still talking".
SEE ALSO: Ambulance call outrage: 'Are you black or white?'
In February, a 17-year-old boy's parents were forced to drive him to hospital after no ambulance showed up, with the SOS Alarm team later blaming an error in prioritization. He died soon after.
The new report suggests that even the patients are unimpressed.
"You get irritated when you are referred by health services to go in to emergency just to spend six hours of potential sleep time so you can sit there in the glow of some aquarium," said one internet user who was cited in the report.
The study suggests that more time should be invested in training emergency call operators to ensure they feel comfortable trusting their instincts.
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This resembels a third world country in that regard. For Pete's sake, in any eastern European country, if you call for an ambulance, you get it.
Why are we paying taxes here again in Sweden if we don't get the decision over our health? Good thing we have money to organize all kinds of retarded events, but if I need an ambulance and sound calm, then I'll be denide one or sent to go by myself to the hospital.
This is a problem that needs to be stopped in Sweden. An ambulance is an ambulance and I decide if I need it or not, not the dispatcher. If it turns out that I wasted the ambulance's time and money for a really minor injury like a cut or a sore throat, then I should pay, sure, but those kind of things should be disputed AFTER making sure my life is not in danger, and not before.
Maybe SHE was one of those who should have caught a bus to the hospital...?