The protocol on urgent care of patients in Sarajevo Canton (CS), which came into force today, clearly defines the path of an emergency patient through the health system in one place for the first time – from the first contact, assessment and stabilization, through transport, to final care at the appropriate level of health care.
At today’s presentation in Sarajevo, it was pointed out that the protocol is the result of the joint work of health professionals from public health institutions of CS, with the aim of improving the coordination of the health system, precisely defining responsibilities and providing faster and safer patient care in situations where every minute counts.
It was emphasized that its importance lies in the fact that it connects the primary, secondary and tertiary levels of health care and key public health institutions into a single system of treatment.
CS Minister of Health Enis Hasanović stated that in emergency medicine, time is not an administrative category because it can mean life, death or permanent disability.
“That’s why a patient with a heart attack, stroke, polytrauma, severe bleeding or some other life-threatening condition must not waste precious minutes by being taken to one institution, then referred to another, nor should a healthcare worker in the field be put in a situation where at a critical moment, he determines where the patient belongs by phone. The patient does not need to know the organization of the healthcare system, the system must know the patient’s path,” said Hasanović.
He added that an initial application period of three months is planned, during which he will monitor how the protocol works in the field, listen to health workers who apply it daily and analyze specific indicators.
“Specifically, we will monitor the number of emergency referrals and transports to the General Hospital, to the Clinical Center, the time of care of emergency patients and pre-hospital survival. After three months, we will perform the first evaluation and where practice shows that it is necessary, we will change and improve the protocol,” said Hasanović.
The Director of the Institute for Emergency Medical Assistance of the CS, Dr. Jasna Husejinbegović-Musić, pointed out that a year and a half ago, she asked Minister Hasanović to convene a meeting of the directors of all 13 health institutions about the patient’s journey, and the biggest problem at that time was patients with acute psychoses, and those in an alcoholic state or under the influence of narcotics, who also often had head injuries.
Husejinbegović-Musić emphasized that the first agreement between the Clinical Center, the Institute for Emergency Medical Assistance, the Addiction Institute and the Sarajevo Canton Psychiatric Hospital was already made at that meeting, and it was then clearly defined where such patients would go.
