‘A Black Box’: Emergency Medics Remain Locked Out of Electronic Health Records

January 4, 2022

(STAT News) – That’s typical for emergency medics, an umbrella term for paramedics, emergency medical technicians, and emergency medical responders, who are regularly the first people to provide care in emergencies from strokes and overdoses to heat waves and hurricanes. However, as experts told STAT, emergency medics, which often operate separately from the health care systems they deliver to, are largely locked out of medicine’s vast information architecture. That means they’re often unable to access a patient’s medical history when they arrive on scene, even though that information would help them make time-sensitive, livesaving decisions. They’re also typically blocked from learning the final outcomes of that critical decision-making — leaving them to cope with unresolved trauma and depriving them of affirmation that their work matters. (Read More)