Clinical
Dispatch
Previous stages of care provider development have progressed from doing little prehospital emergency care to doing some prehospital care under some form of external control. It is practical to develop and run a system that transfers the day-to-day running of ems to the practitioners, without separating prehospital emergency medicine from the rest of emergency medicine, or losing medical input to the process.
South Australia has been running such a system for six years and is in a position to report on the impact of this system on ambulance provision and the health care system in general. Autonomous practice tempered by regular clinical evaluation and continuing education sessions provides a level of patient care that is effective and responsive to the needs of the patient and the needs of the system. The impact of empowering clinical practitioners has a dramatic effect on the management and operational aspects of an ems system.
