WASHINGTON -- D.C. Fire and EMS will soon be implementing new procedures to help better assess patients. The revised procedures come almost one month after the death of former New York Times reporter David Rosenbaum, and the scrutiny of the treatment he received.
WTOP has learned that D.C. Fire and EMS is revising its Patient Care Report, a form paramedics have used to evaluate patients.
"We felt that it was needed to be updated to keep abreast of what's going on with the patient at the time we are assessing him or her," D.C. Fire and EMS Chief Adrian Thompson says.
The Patient Care Report, or PCR, is a checklist of tests administered and looks at the patient's symptoms and to determine whether a patient requires more immediate care.
Once the agency's medical director, Amit Wadhwa, revises the form, the new PCR will be put into use, Thompson says.
The new PCRs will also be administered by EMTs -- who are often the first on the scene, Thompson says. In David Rosenbaum's case, the form wasn't filled out until it was administered by a paramedic, as Rosenbaum was being transported to the hospital.
Thompson says this will not be the first time EMTs have filled out the PCRs.
"What was old is new again. We were doing this years ago, and we got away from it, so we're going back to it again," Thompson says.
