The Vitebsk Region Ambulance Service is switching to a new operating principle

The Vitebsk Region Ambulance Service is the first in the republic to change its approach to serving the population: from October 25, it is switching from an administrative to a territorial principle of operation, which will significantly reduce the arrival time of the medical team at the scene of the call. The details of the innovative approach were revealed by Yuri Derkach, a member of the Standing Commission of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly on Education, Science, Culture and Social Development, and head of the Vitebsk Regional Executive Committee's Healthcare Department.

Currently, in the Vitebsk Region, as in other regions of the republic, emergency medical care is provided on an administrative basis. That is, if you are within the service area of the Vitebsk City Ambulance and Emergency Medical Aid Station, then when you call the 103 hotline, you will wait for a medical team (MT) from this particular station, even if you live very far from it and, for example, an MT from the Vitebsk District substation could arrive at your address twice as fast. From October 25, it will be different: in accordance with the territorial principle of serving the population, MTs from the ambulance stations, departments, or posts located closest to the call location will be dispatched to the patient. In this case, the patient will be transported to the nearest specialized medical facility. To this end, a special emergency medical care roadmap has been developed and approved in the region, all 123 MTs in the region have received their call sign numbers, and have also been equipped with GPS navigators and laptops.

Using this technology, the dispatcher can adjust the ambulance's course in a timely manner or redirect it to the next call, and transmit necessary patient information. This form of operation has been piloted since the beginning of the year in the Liozno District.

Call taker nurse Anastasia Koptelyeva receives a call from Mikhail Shashkov, a resident of the village of Chernoruchye, enters his personal data,

address of the patient into the program and directs the nearest paramedic brigade to him via radio.

While en route, paramedics Anna Kozlova and Natalia Shapovalova manage to study the patient's electronic medical record, prescribed medications, and whether he has purchased these drugs at the pharmacy using an electronic prescription. This data helps to clarify the diagnosis and determine the necessary actions upon arrival.

"The implementation of a territorial approach to serving the population has shown its high effectiveness. This is noted primarily by the residents of our district. Along with this, the accompanying process of informatization has been highly praised by healthcare workers: the organization of work has become an order of magnitude higher in quality and more effective," emphasized Igor Vorokhobko, Chief Physician of the Liozno Central District Hospital.

It should also be noted that in order to provide timely and prompt emergency medical care to the population living near the territorial borders of the region, the Vitebsk Regional Health Department is currently working to form joint ambulance service zones with the Minsk region.

According to Yuri Derkach, it took Vitebsk region five years to transition to the new operating principle, during which systematic activities were carried out in several key areas. For example, the financing of the region's healthcare system, which was previously based on the number of residents in an administrative unit (this principle is used for financing in other regions of Belarus), was redirected to cover the cost of medical care. "This increased the districts' interest in directing the patient to the level of care where it would be most effective and efficient. As a result, the overall bed occupancy time decreased, and resources were freed up for informatization," noted Yuri Derkach.

The application of modern information technologies, in turn, has allowed general practitioners in local areas and narrow specialists in regional centers to monitor, within their areas of activity.

diagnostics and treatment of patients regardless of their place of residence, to eliminate duplication of medical procedures. The latter is of particular importance: the situation with the loss of a medical record or test results is familiar to many. An electronic health record eliminates this possibility, as all information is processed through a center for processing medical data of the region's population, operating on the basis of the Vitebsk Regional Diagnostic Center. All new information is also entered into the electronic health record. As an example, the interlocutor cited the Liozno district: "Updating information from all institutions in the region where its residents underwent examination and treatment allows us to speak today about completed cases of medical examinations for 83% of residents registered in dispensary observation group D3. In addition, thanks to the electronic health record, a person can obtain certificates or health status documents at the place of demand without additional examinations and consultations."

Another step in this direction is the electronic prescription. How does it work? A person receives a discount card for the state pharmacy chain "Farmatsiya". Information about the required medication is uploaded by a doctor or nurse into the UP "Farmatsiya" database and becomes available in all pharmacies in the region through the special "Electronic Prescription" program.

When presenting the card at the pharmacy, the medication information is displayed on the pharmacist's computer. Valentina Kozlova, a resident of the agro-town of Adamanki, Liozno district, shared her opinion on using this system. "It's very convenient. You don't have to worry about losing the prescription. Besides, I often travel to the Lepel district to visit my parents, so the absence of the need to see a doctor for a prescription when the medication runs out is very important to me," she noted.

The other aspect of the electronic prescription is equally important: when the prescription is redeemed, the corresponding data is displayed in the patient's electronic health record within an hour. Thus, the attending physician has the opportunity to monitor the treatment and ask the patient aboutin case he did not purchase and, consequently, did not take the medicine. "If such a situation is due to a person's financial situation, then the doctor can involve social services to resolve the issue of providing assistance," Yuri Derkach points out.

According to specialists' estimates, the economic effect from the transition to the principle of territorial service to the population will be about 10% of the budget financing allocated to the work of the ambulance service. "In fact, this is 3-4 ambulances that we will be able to purchase at the expense of savings from these funds. A unified approach to the ambulance service will allow us to purchase 1-2 ambulances this year," Yuri Derkach summarized.

BELTA.