DENVER — Not every 911 call needs to end with an ambulance trip to the emergency room.
A pilot program between the City of Denver and Denver Health is working to help sort through which calls need ambulance resources, and which calls can be handled by telephone from home.
“Nobody wants to go to the emergency department and have to wait, or have to pay for an ambulance bill if they didn’t need it. Our nurses are incredibly skilled and they're able to treat a lot of people at home,” Dr. Andrew Monte said.
Monte is the director of Denver Health’s NurseLine, as well as a physician and professor of emergency medicine and medical toxicology.
“Initially the people who answer the 911 calls, the dispatchers, will take those calls and they’ll make a determination if this sounds like a relatively low-risk situation that might benefit from a NurseLine call," he said.
Monte said patients can call the NurseLine directly at 303-739-1211 – or, if they’ve already dialed 911, they have the option to transfer over.
“For instance, if a patient has a bad flu and they’re not sure what to do. They feel horrible. And they call up. The nurse may very well tell them to take acetaminophen, get some fluids, and they may feel better enough to not go to ER,” he said.
Another example: When a patient doesn’t need an ambulance but still needs a ride to the hospital.
“Sometimes patients call 911 because they don’t have a way to get to a hospital for a visit. We can help in those instances, by hooking someone up with a rideshare option. So if they need to go to a ER, they can get there,” Monte said.
In the nearly one year of this pilot program, Monte said the NurseLine fielded about 1,500 calls, or about 100 to 150 a month
He said almost half of those calls, 45%, saved an ambulance trip.
“When we save ambulances in 45% of those calls, that means those ambulances are available for people who are having true emergencies. That’s the number one benefit,” Monte said. “It's also less expensive. Patients don’t have to pay for those ambulances. And the hospitals won’t end up with patients in the ER that may not need it.”
It's not just a question about ambulance necessity. The NurseLine staff can also help people get into an urgent care, schedule an appointment with their regular doctor during business hours, or go right back to 911 for that ambulance if the patient decides they need it.
“The reasons to keep this [program] going are one, patients like it. Two, it saves money for patients, and it also saves time and resources on the healthcare system,” Monte said.
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