March 2009 Archives

Saturday morning at 0900 at the EMS Update 2009 Conference, Dr. Paris will be sharing his thoughts, and yours, on the past, present and future of EMS. While he is putting the final thoughts to his PowerPoint masterpiece, there is still time to let him know what you think.

Oh yeah, and if you get something to him before the weekend, there is a free t-shirt in it for you.

To contribute your ideas, reply to this post, the original, or email him directly at parispm(at)upmc(dot)edu.

PS- sorry for the spelled out email address. We post email addresses that way to cut down on the spambots offering completely unnecessary enhancements.

An article posted on the Infection Control Today website is a stark reminder that we as EMS providers need to make sure we are not spreading disease between patients. Of the 50 stethoscopes they swabbed from EMS providers, 16 had MRSA colonization when cultured.

The report reminded me of an undergraduate project I did for a microbiology class. I swabbed the cabinet handles and counter tops in the patient compartment of an ambulance. After finding all kinds of nasty, including some STD bugs, the ambulance service revised their whole infection control program.

No comment on what other practices they may have changed.

So the next time you wash your hands, remember to swab your scope.

Dr. Brooke Lerner and her colleagues at the University of Wisconsin completed the largest survey of EMS providers to date that asked whether we, as EMS providers, should participate in disease prevention programs. Out of more than 27,000 responses to the survey, the investigators found that 81% answered “affirmative” (Lerner, Fernandez, & Shah, 2009) . Unfortunately only 33% reported actually having ever participated in a formal program. 50% of the respondents also reported that we should include prevention services on emergency responses, but only 8% had ever done so.

This study confirms what we have found in Emed Health after all these years. EMS providers are “natural helpers”. I doubt anyone would say they were in EMS for the money, glory or the great benefits. In the majority of EMS agencies we approach to participate, there is a sincere interest by the providers in trying to help. Believe it or not, you and your colleagues are a compassionate bunch.

For those of us whose role in EMS is better filled by not providing direct patient care (especially yours truly), the real challenge has been trying to keep prevention programs from further burdening the already high costs of maintaining an EMS system. From its origins more than 10 years ago, Emed Health has focused on developing financially sustainable programs that can leverage the low cost model that EMS represents. We’ve made great strides in finding programs that will at least break even for the EMS agency. In the end we have to be able to increase revenue to EMS agencies for playing a role in prevention. I also believe that our recognition as health professionals in the public and with our medical colleagues will also improve by participating in these programs.

What would it take to get you more involved in prevention as part of EMS?’  They said they believed in it, but few have done it.  Where is the disconnect?

Visit our website for more information at www.emedhealth.com. Thanks to Dr. Lerner and her colleagues for their study. If you’re interested in hearing more, feel free to reply to this post, or contact me at dswayze(at)statmedevac(dot)com.

Works Cited

Lerner, E. B., Fernandez, A. R., & Shah, M. N. (2009). Do emergency medical services professionals think they should participate in disease prevention? Prehospital Emergency Care , 64-70.

STAT MedEvac is proud to participate in the Strive for Red Walkathon on April 18^th to support the Cumberland County Red Cross. The walkathon will help raise money for military families and for families who have suffered through a local disaster.

For more information on this worthy cause, follow this link or this one.

At the EMSI Seven Springs conference I will be giving a keynote address on Saturday morning March 28^th 9-10 AM titled: EMS: Successes, Failures and Future Challenges. To assist me I would love you have you weigh in with your thoughts on here. The first 200 folks who get engaged by adding comments will get a tee shirt designed by Molly Evers. If you prefer to email me [parispm <AT> upmc <DOT> edu] directly with your thoughts feel free. My questions are:

1. What do you feel the greatest successes EMS has had?

2. What have been the greatest failures?

3. What direction would you like to see for the future?

Clifton W Callaway, MD PhD was announced as the inaugural recipient of the Ronald D Stewart Endowed Chair in Emergency Medicine on Friday, February 13^th at the 30^th Anniversary Event for the Center for Emergency Medicine of Western Pennsylvania, Inc. According to Don Yealy, MD, FACEP and Vice Chairman of the Department of Emergency Medicine, “Clif embodies the award - he is an outstanding investigator, clinician, educator and partner. Moreover, he is a wonderful person, great father and husband, and has improved the lives of many - including those he will never physically touch.”

Congratulations on this well deserved honor Clif!

On Friday February 13^th CEM celebrated its 30^th anniversary event immediately after its annual Tools and Talent conference. More than 150 friends, colleagues and employees celebrated the evening by reminiscing about the good old days and sharing stories of our fabled founder Dr. Ron Stewart (pictured above).

Much has changed since the early days at Lothrop Hall, but the magic of being surrounded by so much talent in EMS has not. We all hope we are living up to Dr. Stewart’s visions and appreciate the solid foundation on which the Center was built.

And for those of you with OCD that would point out our 1978 birth year and our bad math, let’s just call it our 30-ish Anniversary and leave it at that.