Northland Regional Ambulance District

We will be holding a mandatory staff meeting for all full-time and part-time employees on Monday, December 15th from 8:00am to noon and Monday, February 9th from 8:00am to noon. PRN employees are encouraged to attend. Please make arrangements to be at this meeting.

We will be discussing Zoll updates in December and have training HIPPA requirements at our February meeting.

Should you have any questions regarding this meeting, please contact me.

Effective immediately, supply orders will be filled out on a weekly basis. Please have your requisitions to the Platte City station no later than Wednesday at noon. I will attempt to deliver the supplies on the following Thursday and no later than Friday.

I would recommend that an ongoing list be kept on a clipboard so that all shifts may order. The Paramedic on duty on Wednesday will be responsible for faxing the Supply Requisition Form to me.

I’m sure the process may need some refinement as time goes on. Feel free to make suggestions about how to make this work more efficiently.

Thanks!

**Paperwork is due to Ruth by Wednesday, Nov. 5th**

You should have received paperwork in the mail a few weeks ago regarding the Premium-Only Plan. Please carefully read the Plan Summary Description. On the Premium-Only Plan form, enter amounts or "x" and initial the "In lieu of" choice selection.

Also,you should have received a W-4 and MO W-4. Please complete and return so that we have a current form on file. (If you have completed one in the last sixty days you do not need to do this.)

Please sign and return to Ruth before Wednesday, November 5th, 2008. If you have any questions, please feel free to call and ask.

Ambulance oil changes will be done every 5,000 miles. It is the drivers/EMT responsibility to advise the Director when the oil change is due. Ford has recommended we run the crankcases 1 (one) quart low.

If you have a mechanical problem of an emergency nature, notify the Team Leader or supervisor on duty. If the problem is not an emergency, notify the Director by phone 695-2994 or email ttaylor@nrad-ems.org .

You should have received paperwork in the mail last week regarding the Premium-Only Plan. Please carefully read the Plan Summary Description. On the Premium-Only Plan form, enter amounts or "x" and initial the "In lieu of" choice selection.

Also,you should have received a W-4 and MO W-4. Please complete and return so that we have a current form on file. (If you have completed one in the last sixty days you do not need to do this.)

Please sign and return to Ruth before Wednesday, November 5th, 2008. If you have any questions, please feel free to call and ask.

Effective Monday, October 6th, 2008 pay stubs will be available for pick-up in the Platte City office after 2pm. If they are not picked up by the Wednesday of a payroll week, they will be mailed to your home address.

Thanks!

We will be holding a mandatory staff meeting for all full-time and part-time employees on Monday, September 8th from 8am till noon. PRN employees are encouraged to attend. Please make arrangements to be at this meeting.

We will have a guest speaker at the meeting to review our current Harassment Policy. Following, there will be additional Zoll training.

Should you have any questions regarding this meeting, please contact Tom.

Thanks!

When entering the next of kin information for the patient, please do not enter "None" in any of the fields. We have found that even after a ticket is completed, closed and synced at any station, it does not cross over to the billing side. If you do not have any next of kin information, please leave these fields blank.

•After you update your crew in the morning and log on, sync your laptop. If you are worried about calls making it to Platte City and want to sync before the next shift, that is fine, but make sure all calls are complete in your inbox.

•Close the Call – Complete all the red X’s and choose complete call and pick the person who is completing the call and re-enter your passcode.

•A narrative will be required in most all circumstances. Explain the mechanism, reason for call, and any other pertinents to answer the questions: Where was patient found? Was patient bed confined? Any other reason why an ambulance was necessary. This includes statements for transfers, such as services not available at Smithville.

•Use all features on Tablet PCR to describe your incident. Don’t forget the mechanism wizards and annotations for drawing diagrams on the body.

•Document patient location in vehicle under MVA mechanism and narrative.

•Closest appropriate facility should be used in most all circumstances.

•Any time your tones are activated and you leave the station or you are presented a patient at your station or a standby, you will need to generate a new call. PR events can also be documented using Tablet PCR. Choose PR as your nature and no patients found as disposition.

•A patient refusal is a new patient for each refusal. A multiple encounter is an infinite number of patients on just one call. So if you have 3 refusals and 20 multiple encounters, you should have 4 trips. 3 for the refusals and 1 for the multiple encounter. You could choose new for the refusal, and then add a patient for the other refusals and the multiple encounter, or any additional refusals or transports for that incident. It will save you some work on the times and scene information.

•Continue to print and attach all records associated with the call: times, medical necessity, any EKG’s printed, etc.

•The following categories are in the system exactly as listed here and you can pull them up that way and just add your date of service: -Standby, Fire -Refusal, Multiple -Cancelled Enroute

We are closer to fixing some features that are not fully functional yet in the system. Keep in mind this system is meant to be just like your MARF, but electronic. If it is something you documented before Tablet PCR, you should still be documenting the same information.

If you have any questions about any of these items, please let me know.

Platte Valley Bank and Red Barn Farm are sponsoring an “Honor Our Heroes Day” on Saturday, August 23rd at the Red Barn Farm. All employees and their families are invited to attend and enjoy food, drinks and a tour of the maze. Look in your next payroll envelope for more information. RSVP’s will be required. More information will be posted as we receive it.