Paramedic case study: Emergency Medicine

Michael Muir has been a paramedic for 20 years. Like other members of the Scottish Ambulance Service, he has had access to Phone Advice & Guidance and Safe Clinical Photography (PhotoSAF) since September 2018. The service allows paramedics and GPs to speak rapidly to local consultants working in Acute Medicine, Emergency Medicine and Stroke Medicine. In fact, on average calls are connected within 25 seconds.

Before having access to immediate Phone Advice & Guidance, Michael says he:

“would have to look up contacts on his phone to find the direct mobile number which was answered by consultants and senior registrars.”

Michael finds that Phone Advice & Guidance via Consultant Connect is a better tool as:
“Calls are recorded and there are multiple people on the phone rota if others are busy.”

He prefers to use the service via the Consultant Connect App on his mobile:

“You can access multiple departments within the hospital without having to look up contacts or numbers on your phone.”

We asked Michael to provide a an example of a recent clinical issue that prompted him to use Phone Advice & Guidance to benefit a patient. He provided the following example:

Michael used Phone Advice & Guidance to speak to an A&E consultant about a patient experiencing what had “the potential of a stroke mimic.”