Unable to monitor EMS to Hospital Comms.

[browndo4]

I have a Pro-106, and a Pro -197. I have downloaded my frequencies via The Butel software. I am able to hear the EMS services talk to the dispatch but am unable to hear any transmission between EMS and the hospital. The hospital is 5 miles from my house. Any ideas.

Thank you

 

[GTR8000]

You're probably just not close enough to pick up the transmissions. 5 miles might not seem like much, but if they're transmitting at relatively low power, and you're using the stock antennas with those scanners, you might not be close enough. I'm assuming you're using no outdoor antenna on either scanner, and you're indoors. Have you tried camping out somewhere near the hospital with the handheld for a few hours when EMS is generally busy, and listened from there?

The other possibility is that they simply don't use the HEAR radio anymore, and all EMS to hospital comm is done via telephone or other other more secure means.

 

[EngineCo8]

As stated above, most EMS agencies have gone to telephones to call reports into hospitals now, one reason is all of the HIPPA regulations and a bigger reason is to preserve patient privacy.

Honestly speaking as both a scanner listener and an EMT/Firefighter, I don't particularly agree with people listening to the communications between EMS and Hospitals because I do feel it to be an invasion of privacy. Just my 2 cents.

 

[GTR8000]

Not to pick nits, but it's HIPAA not HIPPA.

EMS to hospital reports transmitted in-the-clear over the radio are absolutely compliant with HIPAA guidelines. As long as no personal information is given that would reveal the identity of the patient, there's no problem.

 

[OsloViking1975]

I have a Pro-106, and a Pro -197. I have downloaded my frequencies via The Butel software. I am able to hear the EMS services talk to the dispatch but am unable to hear any transmission between EMS and the hospital. The hospital is 5 miles from my house. Any ideas.

Thank you

I dont know about your county and state but here our hospitals in the county I live in have their own talkgroups as do our local ems. I have them both programmed in so I can hear them communicate with each other.

 

[ST-Bob]

If the ambulances are using a simplex system (no repeaters) then you have to be within reception range of both the hospital and the ambulance's radios to hear both sides.

 

[EngineCo8]

Not to pick nits, but it's HIPAA not HIPPA.

EMS to hospital reports transmitted in-the-clear over the radio are absolutely compliant with HIPAA guidelines. As long as no personal information is given that would reveal the identity of the patient, there's no problem.

Oops lol I thought something was wrong with HIPPA, and while I am well aware of the fact that the radio reports transmitted are "compliant" there is always someone somewhere that forgets and lets personal information slip, and its happened in my area and others, that is why I feel that all of them should be done on a phone instead of on a radio. Like I said though only my 2 cents.

 

[N8IAA]

I have a Pro-106, and a Pro -197. I have downloaded my frequencies via The Butel software. I am able to hear the EMS services talk to the dispatch but am unable to hear any transmission between EMS and the hospital. The hospital is 5 miles from my house. Any ideas.

Thank you

You could tell us what you are monitoring: trunked? conventional? county and state? We can't give a reasonable answer without knowing
Larry

 

[northscan23]

In my community in Minnesota, Gold Cross Ambulance will broadcast limited info on the patient(age, vitals, current condition). Occasionally they will broadcast the intials of the patient.

 

[b7spectra]

If it is MED channels, the hospital xmit's on 463.#### and the EMS xmit's on 468.####. The higher your antenna, the better chance you will have receiving it.

I recall when I was a paramedic, we NEVER gave out the patient's name over the air. i.e. "Enroute with a 56 y/o male, complaining of chest pains, etc., etc., etc." Plain and to the chase. Funny thing is that a paramedic could not state that a person had an open fracture with the bone protruding, but we had to say "POSSIBLE open fx, bone protruding". Even funnier, once you put a patient in your ambulance, by state law, the patient COULD NOT die! You could pronounce the patient 48 (our code for DOA) on the scene, or the docs could say 48 in the hospital, but once in your truck, you had to work ALS until the doc said to stop and he coded them. Silly, but true!

 

[n7lxi]

If it is MED channels, the hospital xmit's on 463.#### and the EMS xmit's on 468.####. The higher your antenna, the better chance you will have receiving it.

I recall when I was a paramedic, we NEVER gave out the patient's name over the air. i.e. "Enroute with a 56 y/o male, complaining of chest pains, etc., etc., etc." Plain and to the chase. Funny thing is that a paramedic could not state that a person had an open fracture with the bone protruding, but we had to say "POSSIBLE open fx, bone protruding". Even funnier, once you put a patient in your ambulance, by state law, the patient COULD NOT die! You could pronounce the patient 48 (our code for DOA) on the scene, or the docs could say 48 in the hospital, but once in your truck, you had to work ALS until the doc said to stop and he coded them. Silly, but true!

So true. We'll work arrests on the scene and unless we get ROSC (return of spontaneous circulation) they'll stay right where they are. Anyone that I transport is "workable", and if they go into arrest in the truck, I'll work 'em. We seldom transport Trauma Arrests anymore and for regular codes, after a full run of ACLS, we'll call it.

As for Medic to Hospital comms, we do 95% of it on the phone. It's just easier that way. However, I know in Seattle, BLS ambulances use the HEAR (155.34) channel, with each hospital having a different PL. Seattle Fire uses the Medic One Doc and Trauma Doc TG on the TRS to talk to Harborview, but everyone else just uses the phone, including the South King County medics.

 

[b7spectra]

Ever work on the HEAR with the rotary dial to encode the respective hospital?

 

[n7lxi]

That was before my time. When I started in CT back in the late 80s, we were using UHF med channels to do Amb to Hospital. We'd call the dispatcher center on med 9 to request a patch and they would set it up on med 3 or med 6. Even today I refer to my reports to the hospital as "a patch".

 

[b7spectra]

Wow! We never had to ask for a patch. Just look on the list and see what MED channel the hospital is on and you just picked up the mic and called them.