I'd have to agree with you. As a former resident of MD (Hagerstown, Baltimore, and Laurel) and a current resident of one of the other 49 states that has a privately run helicopter service, MD's State Police helicopter is the best I've ever seen. He does have ONE fact right. Yes, it is expensive to run. From what I read, that's his only beef. If that's his only beef then maybe the State should charge a small fee for it's services. H@ll, MD charges for everything else, why not that too. I'm not sure where the M. Holt person got their information from but I think they're a little off too. Private helicopter services don't have any more qualified providers on board then the MSP helicopter does. At least not that I've seen so far. Maybe the Aviation Command is top heavy with unqualified leaders. But first off, who's to judge who's qualified and who's not? Ok, so the leaders my not be EMS providers, it is run by the State Police. Most (not all, but a large majority) of EMS providers in the country are run by either Fire
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By the way, Im going to MD for nursing school/grad school staring next year. Do you know if Shock/Trauma offers rotations for nursing students? Because its a dream of mine to work at that place...and the experience would be unbeatable.
Yes, the University of Maryland School of Nursing does some clinicals at Shock Trauma. I'm not sure how it works exactly, I didn't go there but my floor gets students every week during the semester.
Anytime you want a tour just let me know, I'm there...
As a Paramedic in a county in Maryland...I am half and half. I would never have the system dismantled because being in a rural county, my only quick option many times in Aviation. But, with the new Trauma Decision Tree we are operating with in seems like we are being encouraged to send certain things to the Trauma center that probably, with a decent field assessment, be sent local. I'm not saying so in every case, but the article makes valid points. The only concern is the flame war it may be starting because of the accusations of photo ops, dinner parties and such instead of patient transports.
The new trauma decision tree leaves alot of room for "rookies" and unseasoned medics and so on to play it safe and send us patients. There have been soooo many instances where patients are taken to local hospitals and the doctors make refferals to STC because they simple can't or won't operate for whatever reason. Obviously, they aren't flown in on a trooper, but they end up here anyways why not spare everyone the drama and money/time etc. of going to the wrong hospital and send them straight to us? I can think of probably a dozen or so patients just in the 2 yrs I've been there that have horror stories of being sent to local hospitals before coming to us.
It seems to me we need to have better field assesssments, maybe some changes in the trauma decision tree, maybe some tweeks in the msp medivac system.
What is your opinion on our current trauma decision tree, just out of curiosity??
I happen this think the Trauma Decision Tree leaves a lot of room to over triage. While I do understand that that is better than under triaging patients, I would rather see a more extensive educational program for ALS providers so that we have the experience and knowledge to properly assess these patients. Yeah....I know, lofty goals
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It really seems like your reaction is a bit disproportionate to the article. My impression is that the author is suggesting it's something that needs evaluated. If Maryland is the only state in the entire country doing this then it's only sensible to question it. The concerns expressed seem quite fair.
My tax dollars get wasted on many, many things. I'm glad that I'm not paying for free helicopter rides on top of it. The medivac system operated by the local trauma center here is absolutely excellent. They have won numerous awards, have stringent requirements for the staff, and are under strict supervision. Their QA process is phenomenal. The costs are covered by the patients's insurance and out-of-pocket.
Thats nice that your local trauma center has won awards. Your trauma center wouldn't be there at all if it wasn't for the one I work at, and the doctor who founded it. And like yours, we have stringent requirements for staff etc etc. They film The Critical Hour (which Dr. Cowley coined in the 1960's) at STC. I could brag all day about the level of greatness we have, but my point is why is it a bad thing that my Maryland tax dollars are spent on something incredible like I don't know, having the opportunity to be flown to a PARC/Trauma Hospital?? I could think of 100 other things that it could be wasted on, and I would feel better knowing that there are fully trained maryland state police paramedics being dispatched to fly me in regardless of my income level then thet burden of being faced with a bill I'll never be able to pay
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I wasn't trying to brag about the quality of our trauma center's medivac program. My point was that it's possible to have an excellent service without it having to be operated by the state and funded by tax dollars.
Your trauma center wouldn't be there at all if it wasn't for the one I work at...Wow, now that's a pretenious comment. I realize Dr. Cowley founded the STC in 1961. That doesn't mean we still wouldn't have trauma centers today without that event. Granted, it wouldn't have been as soon, but someone would have developed the concept. Medicine is constantly improving and evolving in all aspects. It would be silly to think trauma care would have stopped advancing in the 1960s without Dr. Cowley. I certainly don't mean to downplay the contributions made, but they still would have happened eventually. Our level 1 has been a hospital since 1890, is the largest hospital in the region, and the only hospital in the region for various advanced services, so I'm sure even without STC the trauma program would still be quite
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I formerly flew MEDEVACs for another taxpayer organization...The United States Army. But I have also been on the receiving end of MEDEVAC Transports in busy Emergency Rooms and Trauma Centers across the country, civilian and military. I also understand the pride that personnel in the Shock Trauma Center have toward their craft Maryland State Police Aviation Command (I think your pick scrubs rock!). But overall, I think we really have to look at what is more cost effective for the state of Maryland. In the private sector, if a victim/patient has health insurance, and the injuries (and mechanism that caused it) are significant enough, the health insurance company, more often than not, will fork the bill. This privatization system saves the taxpayers thousands of dollars per transport. I think the main gripe amongst the taxpayers in Maryland is that, as a whole, they're paying for these MEDEVAC Missions (usually, including the patient they're transporting), and that their money should be optimally utilized, instead of being
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By the way, Im going to MD for nursing school/grad school staring next year. Do you know if Shock/Trauma offers rotations for nursing students? Because its a dream of mine to work at that place...and the experience would be unbeatable.
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Anytime you want a tour just let me know, I'm there...
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It seems to me we need to have better field assesssments, maybe some changes in the trauma decision tree, maybe some tweeks in the msp medivac system.
What is your opinion on our current trauma decision tree, just out of curiosity??
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My tax dollars get wasted on many, many things. I'm glad that I'm not paying for free helicopter rides on top of it. The medivac system operated by the local trauma center here is absolutely excellent. They have won numerous awards, have stringent requirements for the staff, and are under strict supervision. Their QA process is phenomenal. The costs are covered by the patients's insurance and out-of-pocket.
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Your trauma center wouldn't be there at all if it wasn't for the one I work at...Wow, now that's a pretenious comment. I realize Dr. Cowley founded the STC in 1961. That doesn't mean we still wouldn't have trauma centers today without that event. Granted, it wouldn't have been as soon, but someone would have developed the concept. Medicine is constantly improving and evolving in all aspects. It would be silly to think trauma care would have stopped advancing in the 1960s without Dr. Cowley. I certainly don't mean to downplay the contributions made, but they still would have happened eventually. Our level 1 has been a hospital since 1890, is the largest hospital in the region, and the only hospital in the region for various advanced services, so I'm sure even without STC the trauma program would still be quite ( ... )
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