Conducting Emergency Ambulance Investigations

Conducting Emergency Ambulance Investigations serves as a guide for those who investigate complaints against municipal ambulance systems, commercial ambulance companies, voluntary hospital ambulance services, or neighborhood volunteer ambulance corps. Discussing issues from delayed response and discourteous personnel to missing patient property and driving complaints, author Steven Gilbert says a "formal investigative process" is crucial when dealing with complainants, patients, politicians, and the media. When the complaint is received, it passes through the case management, investigative, and report-writing phases, and the process concludes with testifying at administrative hearings. When the investigative unit reports the facts, findings need to be accurate, comprehensive, and most importantly, fair. "You can't worry if your final report will make your organization look bad," says Gilbert. "Your organization should address the problem and make the required procedural changes so the incident won't happen again." Seasoned investigators must be trustworthy, have a high level of integrity, and should also be certified EMTs, paramedics, and EMS supervisors because their medical expertise is essential. Is the local media reporting the incident fairly, or are they sensationalizing it? Did the responding ambulance really drive past the call location? Did the crew act negligently, or were they just lazy and taking the easy way out? There are a hundred more situations like these that the emergency ambulance investigator could be asked to look into. While the elements of commonsense and integrity can't be taught from a book, the reader will realize the importance of these qualities and learn additional investigative techniques from a professional who served in the field as a New York City emergency ambulance investigator and director for over thirty years.