Policy Text
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
4.25 Patrol: Medical Centers
4.25.3 First Response Situations (Issued: 01/30/12)
A. The UCSF Police Department has the responsibility to respond to all emergency calls for
service from all UCSF medical facilities.
B. Procedures for Emergency Response
1. A single unit will generally be dispatched to handle routine calls for service;
however, the nature of some calls may require additional units be dispatched for
purposes of safety or more effective handling of a situation. Any additional units
dispatched on a call will clear the scene as soon as it has been determined that
their presence is no longer needed.
2. Two units will normally be dispatched on the following types of calls:
a. Officer calling for assistance
b. Any crime in progress
c. Any crime having just occurred where there exists a need to check the area
for suspects. One unit will respond directly to the scene while the other
unit(s) checks for suspects
d. Calls involving weapons
e. Domestic disturbances
f. Neighborhood disputes that involve a known or suspected potential for
violence
g. Disturbances involving intoxicated or disorderly persons
h. Mental subject investigations
i. Alarms
j. Open door or window calls
k. Prowler calls
l. Upon request of the responding unit
m. Any call where the Watch Commander or dispatcher believes the need
exists for additional officers to respond, either because of the known
serious nature of the call or because insufficient information exists
3. Officers will notify the ECC if they are r esponding to a call for service without
being formally dispatched to the call.
C. Procedures for Assisting Emergency Medical Response Teams
1. Under California law and federal emergency care access and transfer statutes
known as the Emergency Medical Trea tment and Active Labor Act (EMTALA),
all patients presenting to a hospital emergency department for examination and
treatment are entitled to an appropriate medical screening examination to
determine the presence or absence of an emergency medical conditio n by a
qualified medical professional, and if needed, to receive medical stabilization and
an appropriate transfer.
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
2. A person becomes a patient when he/she enters within 250 yards of the main
hospital on hospital property, is known to the hospital or its staff AND meets one
of the following:
a. Requests treatment for a possible emergency medical condition
b. Has the request made on his or her behalf or
c. A reasonably prudent pers on would conclude that, based on the person’s
appearance or behavior, he/she was in need of emergency treatment.
3. Medical screening examinations are performed on all patients presenting to the
UCSF Medical Center Emergency Room, whether or not the treatm ent requested
relates to an emergency medical condition.
4. An emergency medical condition is defined as: a medical condition manifested by
acute symptoms of sufficient severity (severe pain, psychiatric disturbances
and/or symptoms of substance use), such that the absence of immediate medical
attention could reasonably be expected to result in: ( 1) serious jeopardy of the
health of the individual (or the pregnant woman and her unborn child), (2) serious
impairment to bodily functions, (3) serious dysfunction of any organ or body part
or (4) with respect to a pregnant woman who is having contractions, there is
inadequate time to effect a safe transfer to another hospital before delivery, or a
transfer may pose a threat to the health or safety of th e woman or her unborn
child.
5. A medical screening examination is an examination performed to determine with
reasonable clinical confidence if an emergency medical condition exists. At
UCSF, medical screening examinations are performed by physicians, nurs e
practitioners, and physician assistants, on all patients registered in the Emergency
Department. UCSF police officers cannot perform medical screening
examinations, triage or evaluate a patient’s medical stability as defined under the
Act. (Note: This do es not limit the UCSF Police Department’s charge to provide
emergency medical assistance for distressed visitors, outpatients, students and
employees.)
6. EMTALA also applies if a patient crosses the boundaries of the Campus in an
ambulance or enters a hos pital-owned ambulance for care or transport.
7. The Act applies to all Emergency Department, Labor and Delivery, and Pediatric
Urgent Care facilities located within UCSF Medical Center. Additionally, the
EMTALA 250 yard rule, measured from the main hospita l building, extends from
Parnassus Avenue and Hillway Street to Parnassus Avenue and 5th Avenue, and
the area down to Irving Street. The covered zone includes public areas, streets,
sidewalks and UC parking lots and garages. Private restaurants, residences and
doctor’s offices are excluded. The act also applies to:
a. Ambulatory Care Center
b. Clinical Sciences Building
c. School of Dentistry
d. Health Sciences East and West
e. Langley Porter Psychiatric Institute
University of California, San Francisco
Police Department General Orders
f. Long Hospital
g. School of Nursing
h. Medical Sciences Building
i. University of California Hospital
(See General Order 4.6.13, “Code Blue Response” and UCSF Medical Center
Department of Emergency Services Policies and Procedures Manual Policies
201.)
5. An officer cannot prevent an individual w ho may be violent or potentially violent
from accessing the Emergency Department for the purpose of seeking emergency
medical treatment or care. Such an individual cannot be removed until he/she has
received a medical screening examination