Posted: 10/31/2022
Parkland-based unit is link to 14 fire-rescue agencies
The BioTel Social Work Program, which is part of the On-Line Medical Direction Unit housed at Parkland Memorial Hospital, has received recognition from the national organization, America’s Essential Hospitals. The highlighted program is featured in a new illustrated guide of a dozen programs recognized earlier this year with national awards for quality, population health and COVID-19 care.
The guide from America’s Essential Hospitals, Excellence and Innovation in Care: The 2022 Gage Awards, documents BioTel’s work to deploy a social worker and a paramedic to conduct a home visit. The social worker provides medical case management and connects patients to needed social services.
“All our Gage Award recipients exemplify Essential Hospitals’ commitment to the mission and to delivering high-quality care, often with limited resources,” says Kalpana Ramiah, DrPH, MSc, Vice President of Innovation and Director of Essential Hospitals Institute, the research, education and leadership development arm of America’s Essential Hospitals. “These hospitals fill an invaluable role as community anchors and sources of care for disadvantaged people.”
Since 1975, BioTel has served countless residents of Dallas County who were transported via ground ambulance and received life-saving directions from people they never met. Now, thanks to the innovative program, a BioTel social worker can collaborate with EMS agency emergency medical personnel to provide additional services to patients in need.
This program is designed to assist frequent users of EMS who may not need emergency medical care but could be helped by referral to various community social services resources. Paramedics who encounter these patients can contact BioTel to enlist support from BioTel’s social worker.
The program is mutually funded by Parkland and 14 EMS agencies. The program has served more than 340 patients and reduced inappropriate 911 use by 58% for frequent users in DeSoto and Garland, according to Courtney Edwards, DNP, MPH, RN, CCRN, CEN, TCRN, NEA-BC, Director of Trauma Community Outreach & BioTel EMS, Rees-Jones Trauma Center, Parkland Health.
“The program is a win-win for all involved. Patients receive the appropriate care they need along with referrals to community resources, EMS is freed up to assist other critically ill patients and costly emergency department visits and hospital admissions can be avoided,” Edwards said.
For more than 45 years, the BioTel staff of nurses, paramedics and physicians has provided critical consultation, advice and direction to emergency medical personnel in the field.
“We are always looking at ways we can enhance the service we provide to our EMS partners and social work was the next logical step,” said Katie Afflerbach, LCSW, BioTel Social Work Manager. “Our social worker can help navigate through the complicated healthcare environment to connect with agencies such as Adult Protective Services, Child Protective Services, local and county service agencies or insurance providers.”
BioTel began operations at Parkland on Jan. 3, 1975, when Dr. James Atkins, a UT Southwestern Medical Center cardiologist, along with the leadership of Dallas Fire-Rescue, developed and implemented a new paramedic training program for the City of Dallas. These newly-trained paramedics required rapid access to emergency physicians and nurses for medical consultation and direction, which was provided by UTSW/Parkland faculty and resident physicians along with Parkland staff nurses in the BioTel radio room. This collaboration between Parkland, UT Southwestern and Dallas Fire-Rescue continues today and along with paramedics from the other BioTel cities’ EMS agencies forms the core of the UTSW/Parkland BioTel EMS system.
Parkland-trained emergency and critical care nurses along with paramedics and faculty and resident emergency physicians provide 24/7 coverage for the EMS system that today includes 14 fire department-based EMS agencies across the county. Together they provide 911 emergency medical coverage for more than 2 million North Texans.
The need for BioTel consultation includes complex medical calls, cardiac arrest resuscitation, hospital destination decision-making, medical-legal issues, medication dosages, termination of resuscitation efforts and assistance with EMS policy adherence.
In extreme emergencies when a patient requires specialized services during complex extrication, BioTel can dispatch Parkland’s specialized surgical team. In addition, BioTel staff functions as scribes when paramedics are performing complex cardiopulmonary resuscitation in the field and serve as a resource and liaison when a member of a Fire Department or EMS agency is injured in the line of duty.
For more information about services at Parkland, please visit www.parklandhealth.org.