How to Avoid Meeting the Coroner as a Paramedic

 

“There’s no such thing as a bad Case, only a badly written Patient Health Care Record”  – Australian Paramedic

This is a saying that many Australian Paramedics have used, and it does not suggest that you don’t look after your patients, but that the only physical record of the fact that you have looked after your patient well is that what you have documented thoroughly in the Patient Health Care Record.

Most Ambulance Paramedics will recognize that many hospital Nurses and Doctors don’t even look at the Paramedic Case Sheets. On the subject of continuity of patient health care, the most important thing you can do as a conscientious Paramedic is give a good hand-over to the Nursing or Medical Staff. However, if something goes wrong, and the patient has a subsequent poor health outcome, Nursing, Medical, and Legal staff will all thoroughly read your Case Sheet. This is why you write a Case Sheet – to document the fact that you have treated your patient correctly.

Follow your Guidelines, Protocols, Procedures – even if you know of a better way of doing something, or a different drug that may actually be better for your patient, you are not covered by doing so! If you are adamant that the current policy is wrong, try to change it by providing scientific evidence – not by implementing it by yourself.