March 2014 - case study 1
Date: 01 March 2014
- Details:
The patient was suffering with stomach pains and called 999. The Call Handler asked the routine triage questions but the caller was unhappy with the amount of questions asked, and particularly that the Call Handler appeared to be unable to comprehend the answer to the question ‘Is the pain above or below the belly button? The answer given was ‘The same height as the belly button but to the left.’
- Findings:
The call was correctly coded as requiring a ‘Green 4’ response, but the investigation revealed that the triage system does not have provision for the answer given about the location of the pain and this led to repeated questioning of the patient.
- Lesson learnt / action taken:
Our Emergency Operations Centre (EOC) staff have been issued with guidance regarding the answer to select in this scenario.
- Date:01 March 2014