“There is nothing associated with more liability at an event than a medical emergency improperly managed.” Jonathan Spero, MD | CEO, InHouse Physicians.
Did you know that:
The average emergency medical response time is 10-14 minutes (from first call to arrival of emergency personnel).
5% of meeting attendees come to a meeting ill (up to 10% in winter months).
One in four international travelers will become ill while attending a meeting.
Have you ever experienced a medical emergency of any kind when you have been on-site for a meeting? How did you handle the situation? Did you communicate beforehand to your meeting participants what they should do in case of a medical emergency: who they should call in the hotel and they become sick or injured; where the closest/ best medical facility was that best fit their immediate needs, etc.? Like it or not, the unexpected does happen and you need to be prepared for any number of different scenarios.
With this in mind, it is imperative you have a Medical Risk Management Plan (MRMP) in place before an incident occurs so that when the unexpected happens everyone knows what to do and can stay calm and focused on the issue at hand. For starters, your MRMP should identify and/or answer questions like:
Your definition of a “routine medical emergency.”This could be anything from a slip and fall to a cardiac event.
Other risks specific to your event and location that might occur such as altitude sickness and/or water sport activities.
Additional risks you need to be aware of if the group is traveling abroad, such as infectious disease, and potential food and water contamination.
Location of the closest and medical clinic and hospital to the meeting venue.
Are security personnel at the venue contractors or employees?Are they available 24/7? Are there at least two on-site at any given time?
What is the protocol for contacting security when an emergency occurs?
Are security personnel CPR and AED trained?Where are the AEDs located?
What is the closest entrance to the meeting room for emergency personnel to arrive at?Who from your staff will meet them?
Do the meeting rooms have house phones?What is the protocol for using, where do the calls go, who responds?
Does the venue have a physician on-site or on call?If yes, are they available 24/7?How do you or your guests reach them?
How/when do you communicate and to what extent do you communicate any or all of this information to your guests?
Have you considered having a physician or other medical personnel on-site during your meetings?
Having trained medical professionals on-site especially for large programs, high profile meetings such as Board of Directors Meetings, and/or international meetings where response time and/or quality of care may not be up to par would go far to insure that your medical emergencies were properly managed.We did have corporate security officers who traveled with us to our larger meetings and our Board of Directors Meetings who were CPR and AED trained and who could tend to the non-life threatening cases, and there were procedures to follow, but we didn’t at the time have physicians or other medical/emergency personnel on site.However, one could make a pretty good argument for doing so in the right set of circumstances.
I recently had the opportunity to connect with Karen Moore, Sales Manager, with InHouse Physicians and learned some interesting facts about the organization she represents that I wanted to share with you.
InHouse Physicians was founded in 1992 by an Emergency Room physician by the name of Jonathan Spero, MD, who recognized a need for a service that provided on-call medical specialists to deliver VIP treatment to meeting attendees who become ill or injured while at a meeting venue after he himself had been asked by a meeting host he was an acquaintance of “if he knew of anyone who …. “
IHPs on-site medical personnel consist of board certified or board equivalent qualified physicians, mid-level support and paramedics assigned to your group 24 hours a day.Many of the physicians are board certified in emergency medicine and many are employed full-time as ER physicians in the hospitals where they reside.(Their ER schedules work well with their off-duty schedules.)
They provide concierge care services such as those middle of the night calls (whether sick or injured) to quick response emergency room type care to life threatening emergencies, and can go so far as setting up an actual ER setting at a venue complete with ER and ambulance equipment such as cardiac defibrillators, sutures, IV fluids, etc. They have a global network of credentialed and qualified specialty professionals available 24/7, and have admitting privileges at international hospitals (all English speaking).They make sure your attendees receive the appropriate care when they need it, while mitigating the risks associated with delayed or substandard care.
In addition to providing on-site medical care, they also set up Mobile Pharmacies that offer a wide range of frequently prescribed US medicines 24/7.
When you contract with IHP, they provide cell phone numbers directly to your attendees or through apps or other forms of communication you provide to your guests.
If you’d like to learn more about InHouse Physicians and/or how to medically risk-proof your meetings, contact Karen Moore | 303.929.2665 | kmoore@ihphysicians.com. She’d welcome the opportunity hear from you.
Mary Jo Wiseman, CMP | Author, “The Meeting Planning Process: A Guide to Planning Successful Meetings.”