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Emergency medics insist on body cameras and sanctions for improper use of emergency teams

Only 30% of the cases that Emergency Service serves are urgent. The remaining 70 per cent are cases outside the functions of emergency teams. This was stated on the air of NOVA NEWS Galina Zaharieva, who is vice-president of the Union of Medical Assistants and Paramedics. She commented on what measures were needed for emergency assistance. Doctors insist on body cameras to be used as evidence when visiting risky addresses. They will serve as a preventive measure against aggression, Zaharieva said. According to her, panic buttons do not work because of the lack of teams of law enforcement in remote settlements. Body cameras could at least to some extent deter aggression, added the vice president of the Union of Medical Assistants and paramedics. Zaharieva also said that for the first nine months of the past year, police have registered 75 cases of aggression, but there are many more unregistered. In addition to body cameras, emergency medics also suggest imposing sanctions when emergency teams are being misused.

Watch the whole conversation in the video via the button below.

Nova News

Within four days, we witnessed a second attack on a paramedic from the Emergency Medical Center.

The Bulgarian Union of Medical Assistants and Paramedics warns that violence against medical professionals has become a worrying trend, and the lack of adequate protection of workers in emergency centers puts them at constant risk. Violence against medical professionals is a threat to their personal safety, as well as to the safety and health of patients and the whole society.

In front of Radio Sofia, the Deputy Chairman of the Board of BULASF Galina Zaharieva said that such incidents also affect the teams mentally.

In both recent cases, colleagues are over 70 years old and for the first time they have experienced physical aggression because verbal is everyday life. Once you are attacked, things change – one is no longer safe at work, I lose faith in the people across the street,” Zaharieva explained.

According to her, the reason for the increasing aggression is the unsettled positions in outpatient care.

"Really, people after the official working hours have nowhere to go and seek medical help. Everything is pouring on our colleagues," said Galina Zaharieva.

She added that teams have panic buttons on their tablets, but they don't always manage to use them. According to Zaharieva, European practice shows that a good option would be if teams are equipped with body cameras.

They don't prevent, but they discipline. Second, there is a difficulty in the evidence in subsequent pre-trial proceedings, as our colleague is usually alone, even the driver is in the ambulance. It is very difficult to gather evidence afterwards so that the perpetrators can be held accountable,” said Galina Zaharieva.

She stressed the need for training of crisis management teams.

The EU calls on all competent institutions to immediately address the issue of real safety at work in emergency centres in the country.

Once again, we draw the attention of the Ministry of Health to the problem. We expect and insist on effective prevention measures and zero tolerance for aggression against our colleagues.

You can hear details in Maria Ilieva's interview with Galina Zaharieva.

You can access the BNR news and interview via the button below.

BNR

The Union of Medical Assistants asked for emergency teams to be equipped with body cameras and panic buttons

Aggression against medics. In just seven days, three physical assaults on paramedics from the emergency centers in Gorna Oryahovitsa, Pavlikeni and Polski Trambesh were recorded in Veliko Tarnovo. Following the attacks by the Union of Medical Assistants, emergency teams were asked to be equipped with body cameras and individual panic buttons.

Zachary Zinev has been a paramedic for over 40 years. In the last 13 works in the branch of Emergency Services in Polski Trambesh. In the early hours of January 18, he responded to a report of a victim after a fight in a restaurant. The man had an arcade on his face. The doctor invited him to the emergency room. As he prepared to process the wound, the patient began to behave arrogantly.

Zahari Zinev, paramedic at FSMP - Polski Trambesh: "Dude, dude, now what are you gonna do to me, what do you got, what don't you have..." And I said to him: Be a little more cultural. If that's how you behaved at the bar, then it's no accident that you were hit. And he jumped out of the chair, came to the table where I was preparing things and gave me two punches in the back of the head. Then I put him to bed on the couch, processed his wound, glued it.

The 31-year-old man was detained for 24 hours. And the paramedic's considering leaving.

Zahari Zinev, paramedic at FSMP - Polski Trambesh: At first I said to myself: What I'm doing here, what I'm here for. Okay, but when time passes, when you think about it, you're like, These people need me, too.

The branch in Polski Trambesh employs a total of four paramedics and one doctor. They serve a total of 13 settlements. About 1,400 paramedics work in the emergency system. Most of them are of pre-retirement and retirement age. Verbal aggression is a daily routine for teams across the country, according to the Union of Medical Assistants.

Galina Zaharieva, Deputy Chairman of the Bulgarian Union of Medical Assistants and Paramedics: We don't have well-developed outpatient care, and all those patients who have nowhere to go outside working hours go to emergency care, and that's where the tension actually comes in.

For the first nine months of last year, there were 75 physical assaults on medics. The union of medical assistants wants emergency teams to be equipped with individual panic buttons and body cameras that include the riskier addresses.

Galina Zaharieva: When they know they're being photographed and that there's going to be evidence, I think it's going to have a deterrent effect.

The Department of Health says the introduction of individual panic buttons has been discussed with emergency workers. Some of them were worried that they might inadvertently trigger them. And the use of body cameras is a measure that should be subjected to a wide public and expert debate, given the sensitive situations and the processing of patients' personal and health data, the Health Ministry said.

You can watch the news and the report on BNT via the button below.

BNT