In an effort to cut down ED overcrowding in its city’s hospitals, the Beverly Hills Fire Department has added a Nurse Practitioner Response Unit (NPRU) to its prehospital care team.
The one-year program, paid for by the city of Beverly Hills, is an effort to cut down on ED overcrowding.
“If you take a look at any of the local hospitals you’ll know their emergency rooms are filled with truly non-critical patients, but nonetheless people who need care,” Beverly Hills Mayor Julian Gold told KABC in an interview earlier this week.
Nurse practitioners are not new to Los Angeles-area fire department crews. The Los Angeles City Fire Department launched its first NPRU in January 2016, staffed by an LAFD firefighter/paramedic and a nurse practitioner. NP1 was stationed in Watts (in South Central Los Angeles, one of the busiest and toughest EMS jurisdictions in the country.
Last year, the LAFD expanded the pilot, adding five additional advanced provider response units (APRU) after receiving additional public-private funding from Cedars Sinai, Kaiser Permanente, Providence Health & Services Southern California, and the Los Angeles Fire Department Foundation. The new units serve the communities of Arleta, Hollywood, Pico-Robertson/Mid-City, Downtown and Woodland Hills.
By JEMS Staff, Beverly Hills Fire Department Adds Nurse Practitioner Unit, on JEMS.com