Paramedic case study: Emergency Medicine

Michael Muir, Clinical Stroke Lead and paramedic at the Scottish Ambulance Service, describes how he uses Phone Advice & Guidance to speak to consultants at Ninewells Hospital at NHS Tayside Health Board.

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

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.”

Michael thought the patient was experiencing a Bell’s palsy. Using Phone Advice & Guidance allowed him to speak to an A&E Consultant who was able to talk him through a few simple steps to confirm his suspected diagnosis.

How Phone Advice & Guidance helped:

Immediate Phone Advice & Guidance gave both Michael and the A&E Consultant the confidence that the best pathway for the patient would be to be referred to their local GP rather than needing to undertake a journey to hospital.

Michael added that:
“The patient was happy that the outcome meant a local appointment with their GP as opposed to an 80-mile round trip to hospital.”

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