Emergency patient transfer times studied

Data regarding the transfer times between ambulances and emergency rooms will once again be collected by the Southern Nevada Health District.

The agency's board of health accepted the responsibility Thursday from the State Board of Health.

Under Senate Bill 244, passed during the 2007 legislative session, the State Board of Health is required to develop a system of collecting data concerning wait times experienced by providers of emergency medical services in transferring a person who arrives at a hospital by an ambulance, air ambulance or firefighting agency to an appropriate place in the hospital.

Transfer times measure how long it takes from the ambulance's arrival with the patient until the patient is received by hospital caregivers.

By law, such transfers must occur within 30 minutes.

As part of the bill, the State Board of Health has the authority to delegate its duties to a district board of health with a population of 400,000 or more.

Rory Chetelat, manager of emergency services for the Health District, said staff already had the tracking system in place for the job since it participated in a patient wait time study under a previous Senate bill.

The new study is to do much of the same, health officials say.