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Mayday policy changes end confusion about who to call, what to do Emergencies happen. The question is: What do you do when the emergency's happening right in front of you? MUSC's new Mayday policy has the answer.   With a few key changes, the new policy eliminates the confusion of knowing who to call, which emergency numbers to use and how to report.   “In the past, in some campus buildings a call to 792-3333 was required for cases of cardiopulmonary arrest and in others 911,” said Mayday committee chair Shelia Scarbrough. To streamline and standardize the process, her committee developed the new policy, which can be found on the Medical Center Intranet.   Scarbrough said that all on-campus locations are asked to call Hospital Communications at 792-3333 for a life threatening medical emergency or injury. At that time, the caller will be asked his/her name, call back number and street address. Meducare and Public Safety will be dispatched to the emergency instead of Charleston County emergency responders. If Meducare is unavailable, then Charleston County will be dispatched.   “In case callers don't know their street address, phone stickers were distributed throughout campus,” Scarbrough said. “All departments are asked to write their street address on these stickers, so callers don't have to remember their address in an emergency." She said that if the caller does not know the address and can't find the sticker, Hospital Communications will transfer the call to Charleston County.   Inside the Medical Center, callers no longer need to tell the operator if the patient is conscious or unconscious, or a patient, staff, visitor. All callers must tell the operator the exact location of the emergency, including building and room number and if the patient is adult or pediatric.   For clearly non-life threatening illness or injury, call Public Safety at 792-4196 to get some help in getting the patient to the Emergency Department. If the caller is unsure if the emergency is life threatening or not, the caller is urged to err on the side of safety and ask for a Mayday.   For details of Mayday Team response, see Policy C-14.     Other information regarding Mayday can be found on the Mayday Committee Web site at http://mcintranet.musc.edu/mayday. Friday, Aug. 5, 2005 Catalyst Online is published weekly, updated as needed and improved from time to time by the MUSC Office of Public Relations for the faculty, employees and students of the Medical University of South Carolina. Catalyst Online editor, Kim Draughn, can be reached at 792-4107 or by email, catalyst@musc.edu. Editorial copy can be submitted to Catalyst Online and to The Catalyst in print by fax, 792-6723, or by email to petersnd@musc.edu or catalyst@musc.edu. To place an ad in The Catalyst hardcopy, call Community Press at 849-1778.