Thirty-three Wisconsin participants from EMS and fire departments, hospitals, and hospice organizations made their way to Minneapolis, Minnesota, for the Community Paramedicine Study Tour, presented by staff members at North Memorial Medical Center and sponsored by PAAW.
According to PAAW Executive Director Joe Covelli, "The opportunity brought together healthcare providers looking for ways to get started with CP and bring it to their local community. The staff at North Memorial Medical Center was very gracious with their time, information, and access, to include in-field clinical ride alongs for participants."
Besides clinical ride alongs, day one also included presentations from those in the Twin Cities metropolitan area with CP programs, to not only include North Memorial Medical Center, but also Hennepin County Medical Center and HealthEast Medical Transportation. In addition, there were presentations by North Memorial Medical Center staff members regarding care coordination, pharmacy, how to start a CP program, establishing dedicated CP clinic sites (i.e. mental health treatment), and scheduling coordination. All presentations and programs centered around one focal point - improving patient outcomes with a team approach. Data measures and outcomes presented support this point.
While the CP programs referenced are truly early in their development and still "feeling their way", one thing is evident, they are constantly gathering information and evaluating improvements to their approach - both for the individual patients and the overall delivery system Even though patient outcomes were improved in many examples referenced, and costs removed from lower Emergency Department utilization and through care coordination, the big nut to crack yet is stable funding. That is today's topic for day two.
