Case Study - Employees Credited with Saving Caller’s Life

A member of one of our Managed Care Organization (MCO) clients called to speak with a Customer Services Representative (CSR). According to the CSR, the member was gasping for air, said she had called a cab and then hung up. The alert CSR immediately contacted a Nurse Response R.N. who tried to call the member, but got no answer. He then contacted the local EMS who dispatched help to the address in our system. About five minutes later, the member called Nurse Response again to report that she was “breathing normally.”

The R.N. told her 911 was contacted and help was on the way. He also asked her where she was – it was different than the one listed in our system so he contacted EMS with the correct address. The member was transported to an area hospital and admitted into the ICU with severe hypoxia – evidence she was near respiratory arrest. The alert CSR and tenacious R.N. probably saved this young woman’s life.

This success is due to the fact that the CSR contacted the R.N. who took several crucial actions including contacting 911 when he could not reach the member the first time, obtaining the member’s correct location and then contacting 911 to reroute them. Most importantly, when the member told him she was “breathing normally,” the R.N. did not cancel the EMS response.

It is possible that she was not, in fact, “breathing normally,” but rather had just stopped having symptoms such as wheezing because she was not actually moving any air in and out of her lungs. Respiratory arrest would follow almost immediately if that was the case.

The two Nurse Response employees were recognized for saving a caller’s life.