ARC Scenario for EMS
You and your department have been dispatched to the local bar for a man that has fallen and hit
his head. The bartender advises you that the patient had been drinking and fell off the barstool striking his
head on a table on the way down. The patient is a 38 year old male that admits to drinking two beers and
slipped off the barstool while trying to see the Rays game on the TV. He has a 3inch laceration with active
bleeding on his forehead but denies loss of consciousness or dizziness or weakness. Your lieutenant
states that the man must be taken to the hospital for further evaluation. The patient is refusing treatment
other than allowing you to bandage the laceration.
Your lieutenant tells you to call law enforcement to Baker Act the patient and have him transported
to the hospital because he’s refusing. The Driver/Operator of the engine states that the patient is not a
candidate for Baker Act but that he is for Marchman Act and wants you to call the MCO for physician
consultation. You get this “gut feeling” that neither of the Acts pertain to this patient and think that the
patient is oriented enough to refuse treatment and transport.
Use the ARC rubric to think through your options.