An order by Colorado's top public health official outlines how emergency medical workers should handle situations amid staffing strains and high demand.
With more emergency medical services staff in Colorado out sick amid high demand for medical transport, only the most severe patients will be taken by ambulance to hospitals under emergency protocols enacted Friday by state health authorities.
"There has been a rapid increase in COVID-19 cases, largely due to the highly contagious Omicron variant," France wrote in his order."Furthermore, these shortages of professional staffing, combined with the case surge, necessitate efforts to respond to and mitigate the effects of the pandemic, prevent further spread, preserve our health care and emergency medical services resources, as well as provide the needed flexibility to address the consequences of the pandemic.
New crisis standards in Colorado are intended to limit use of emergency departments amid staffing shortages of emergency medical workers and increased demand for ambulances.How the standards play out will depend on each community's resources. But they state that medical workers should"transport only the most severe cases." The standards outline a set of criteria for when not to transport a patient.