What is the best way to discourage people from calling ambulances and using hospital outpatient services when they are not in need of urgent treatment?
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27 Comments
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shiuu
Easy. Charge them (more) for it.
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smartacus
I agree that ambulances should charge a hefty fee, maybe 50,000 yen. As for hospitals, it is up to doctors to tell patients that their ailment wasn't really so bad and that they didn't need to come to the hospital. Too many people I know race off to the clinic or hospital at the slightest pain. It's not just elderly people, but mothers of young children. Even if it is nothing more than a cough or slight cold, they are conditioned to visit a doctor.
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sf2k
question is a bit odd; are outpatient services also emergencies? To the point though is that you have nurses turn them away at the hospital and direct them to a local clinic. If there is no local clinic then see a family doctor. If there is no family doctor then to hospital. rinse. repeat.
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Nippon5
Shiuu has it right. Charge them a very high fee. In the US its about 1500 dollars a ride.
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sangetsu
Just make the conditions similar to emergency rooms in America. Crowds of people moaning in Spanish, with their children and other relatives present waiting 8 or 10 hours to see a doctor.
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Patrick Smash
Actually it's partly the system. If something happens after hours, and you need a few stitches but nothing too awful, to get to any hospital you sometimes have to go by ambulance. It's really stupid, but I was once forced to take an ambulance with Mrs. Smash because she cut her finger making my Irish stew.
What they need is a better after hours admissions system for that case, and a bigger bill in other cases.
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bdiego
Charge them. If they repeat (like some people) without paying, throw them in jail.
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timorborder
The money factor. Because of the minimal cost of an ambulance ride (in many areas free), a certain part of the population uses ambulances as a taxi service. This should stop.
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Nippon5
Sangetsu.
Strange Ive never waited more then 20 minutes at a hospital in the States, and when I was rushed to the hospital I didnt have to wait at all. Now of course Ive had times here in Japan I have been in quick, but I also have had to wait hours to see a doctor.
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Cos
That's always the same problem : Have enough doctors and nurses in the country. So a part of them will go be able to go patients' house or at least answer the phone for consulting, at any hour, in case the baby or a the grand-ma has "a cold or maybe worse but you cannot tell for sure". That works like that in my country. People are not able to say if it's emergency or not. Once, a student fainted in the entrance hall of my school. I had no idea if she was dying, falling into diabetic coma, or if she had just not eaten her breakfast (that was the case). That's the job of the doctor to tell, if he doesn't come to them, people will call ambulances. Then, I don't see the problem with ambulances doing the medical taxi service in their empty hours. Many vehicles (+staff) are needed in case of big accident/earthquake whatever, and on most days, only 20% of them will be active for emergency. There is no reason to make the others wait on a parking lot rather than transport non-emergency the patients with mobility problems.
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ImYcare
Describe "not in need of urgent treatment" ? Who will decide ? People don't always know what is life threatening and what isn't, pain is pain. Look at those guys using foot massager for their neck. How do you expect the same people to know the difference between someone having a heart attack and someone asleep ?
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ptolemy
For ambulances, what every other nation does: Fine them for making a false emergency call, misuse of emergency services, and charge then all expenses for the ambulance trip. Hospital outpatient services, not alot to do about that, in the States the elderly do the same thing as here, and the homeless in the States use them as an excuse to be off the street.
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shackleberry
Hit `em where it hurts: in the wallet! A good solid fine of about 50,000 yen may make them think (I imagine the majority of them are boozed up to the gills)
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Disillusioned
I'm not sure if I understand this question nor the point of it. In Australia ambulances have been nick named 'geriatric taxis', but what is the problem with that? It is a service that should be used. Gawd knows, we pay huge amounts of national health insurance here in Japan, which covers ambulance travel, so why not use it? When my wife was due to drop our second bundle of joy she was concerned about how she would get to the hospital if I was on the other side of town when the time came. I told her to call an ambulance, but she told me, "it was not normal to do so." Why? That's what the service is for. Whether it is a medical emergency or a just a non-life threatening injury everybody has the right to use the ambulance service.
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GW
disillusioned
its pretty simple if people use their heads but too many dont, let me sum it up this way for you.
When you or yr wife are dieing of a heart attack & you call for a ambulance do you want them to already be picking up yr next door neighbour who cut the tip of her finger in the kitchen?? Nuff said.
Way too much of the latter happening & people are dieing because of it. And then there is the problem of course of having a hospital admit people to add to our worries
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katiemian
Some people wants to be charge free all the time. They're almost stingy person who are always using an ambulance as a taxi or free service rather than using their own car or using a taxi for their own expence.I experienced it with my dishonor husband . In my absence,our daughter hit her head in the wood,he was at home at that time,anxiously panic that our daughter was crack crying at that time.He doesn't really know what to do but called an ambulance. He'd done it a lot of times calling an ambulance even in a slight bruise of our child then all our neigbor mob in our house and thought it was terrible. For me I would aggree he should be learned a penalty of overcharge payment. Because using ambulance as a service or taxi is not normal unless it's terrebly ill.What's the use of Jido Teate or child support from National Government if my husband is not using it for the sake of our child.But rather collect it for his account? He didn't even transfer it to our daughter's account.Or even give me allowance.He could even ask payment if he buy me something.Extremely stingy person.
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ThomasJ
By providing more professional telephone and computer responses 24/7 to those with symptoms necessitating attention via telephone management. It would seem to be cost effective. No social policy is 100% effective, and there would need to be an adjustment period, but health providers could be required to serve in such capacities as part of their license obligations. Sorry to be so wordy.
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Nessie
Make frivolous callers pull rickshaw taxis...for other frivolous callers.
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VoXman
Make them pay a fine for non emergencies as determined by the Doctor..
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Azrael
I agree with the above. It's actually a very good idea. If it's not an emergency (determined by a physician, as Voxman suggested), FINE them good. More than 10,000yen would be appropriate; any less than 10,000yen would not work. 10,000yen should be the basic fine, and other fines could apply on top, depending on how puerile the call was - maybe the person had a valid reason to be scared despite it wasn't an emergency, they should either take no fine or the basic fine. After a year the people would -start- getting the message. The money from the fines should go to a fund for emergency room and ambulances equipment, repairs and updates.
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rurika
I was walking home on a bitterly cold night when I came across a man collapsed on the road. His breath smelled of alcohol but for all I knew he could have been in a diabetic coma. I called an ambulance and they told me I did the right thing calling them. I didn't know what else to do as I couldn't leave him freezing to death. Maybe he was just drunk and that ambulance could have been put to better use - I'm not a doctor and I wasn't qualified to make that judgement.
It's not always easy to make the right decision. Symptoms of mild illnesses in babies can look very dramatic and frightening to new parents, many people panick at the sight of blood, etc... I agree malicious callers should be fined but could you fine people just because they don't know any better? Maybe the answer lies with the staff answering calls, with better training they could ask questions that would weed out the non-emergency cases?
As for hospital outpatient services, I would think the majority of people use them because there is no alternative available to them?
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