The Indianapolis Fire Department recently transitioned to a new reporting format and procedure. All EMS incidents must now be reported through the ESO EHR system. The EMS Division just reviewed the January month-to-date data and I am very happy to report that department-wide we currently have an 80% compliance rate with EHR reporting. This is an outstanding number so early in the transition. Please keep up the great work and feel free to contact your shift EMS Duty Officer, or EMS Quality Management Officer Capt. Rick Allgood with any questions.
On a related note, some concerns have been shared about the “time at patient” field in the ESO EHR. This is a data point captured by fire departments across the country to document when crews physically arrive at the patient. In some instances – high rise structures, unsecure scenes, etc, this could be quite different than the time on scene field. This data point has been discussed at length with our medical directors and it is well recognized that there may be variations in times based on what mechanism was used to capture the information. Times on your watch, I phone, Motorola radio, monitor, or from PSC are likely to have some variations. As long as the EMS providers involved are making a good faith effort to accurately reflect the time events occurred these variations are acknowledged and are acceptable. Another option available is to contact the dispatcher and advise “at patient,” this will time stamp the benchmark and they will provide you on air with the time they do so.
Thank you and please keep up the great work!
Allen Pekarek
Division Chief
Emergency Medical Services
Indianapolis Fire Department
955 Fort Wayne Avenue
Indianapolis, Indiana 46202
Office: (317) 327-6787
Cell: (317) 442-0341
Email: allen.pekarek@indy.gov