Importance of EMS Report in Medical Summaries
Medical summaries are vital for personal injury, medical malpractice disputes, and settlement cases. To understand the detail of what happened during a particular treatment, lawyers often use medical summaries prepared in addition to the regular medical records provided by the hospital.
As we have discussed in our previous blogs, medical summaries are short formats of the treatment records and patient records provided by the hospital. Since the usual medical record formats can be difficult to peruse without proper medical background, a summation from a medical expert can be helpful. While we have covered the different parts of a medical summary and their importance, there is one section that needs special attention. It is the EMS report
So, what is an EMS report?
When a patient or his/her family realizes they are in distress or need medical attention, they call the doctor or hospital. The first responders on the scene are usually the emergency medical service team. They are paramedical staff that takes the patient’s vitals and also prepare a report of their condition until the patient is taken to a hospital. This report is called an EMS report or an EMS run report.
These details are usually the first information communicated to the doctor regarding the patient’s ailments, current condition, and any step taken by the first responder team to relieve the patients’ symptoms.
Details in an EMS report
Before we discuss what is the importance of an EMS report in a legal dispute, let us see what is covered in an EMS report :
- Patient’s vitals – Pulse, heartbeat, and breathing conditions, etc.
- Call details – Call time, response time, and condition described over the call.
- Personal information – Name, age, location, phone number, next of kin, allergies, existing medical conditions, a summary of medical history.
- Physical Conditions – Details if the patient is conscious, any wounds, and contusion, if any.
- Treatment provided – In case any medicine has been prescribed, defibrillator used, the details would have to be here.
Why is the EMS run report important?
When it comes to medical summaries, every little detail matters. However, the details in an EMS run report are not little by any means. As this is the basis on which the entire treatment is decided and carried out and including this in the medical summary is vital to understand the big picture. Also, by analyzing the details in the EMS report, we can understand if the treatment carried out was correct and where the issues started occurring for the patient.
EMS run reports will depict the state of admission into the hospital and make it easier to track the progress or lack of it, from the treatment. Any court of law will need this to understand if there is any case of malpractice at all hence, understanding and summarizing the EMS run reports is an essential task.
Summary
For a layman, understanding the treatment provided and the reasons for all the decisions taken can be quite hard. However, when it comes to fighting medically related legal disputes, each of these details and decisions matter a lot. An EMS report is the first report formulated by medical personnel and forms the basis of the treatment provided to any patient. The EMS report contains all the important details such as personal information, medical conditions, physical condition, distress, injury, allergies as told to doctors. Starting by analyzing the EMS report with the other medical records and patient care reports can help the legal understand what happened. Medical summaries can help highlight the discrepancy in EMS report and other treatment records if any.
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