EMS Systems Flashcards
What is an EMS System?
EMS systems are a team of healthcare professionals who provide emergency care and transportation to the sick and injured. EMS systems include dispatch, first responders, fire departments, ambulance agencies, hospital emergency departments, and state EMS offices.
What components make up an EMS system?
Agencies and organizations (both private and public)
Communications and transportation networks
Trauma systems, hospitals, trauma centers, and specialty care centers
Rehabilitation facilities
Highly trained professionals
An informed public that knows what to do in a medical emergency
Responsibilities of an EMS provider
Respond to 911 calls for emergency medical assistance
Assess a patient’s condition and determine a course of treatment
Provide first-aid treatment or life support care to sick or injured patients
Transport patients safely in an ambulance
Transfer patients to a hospital or other healthcare facility
Report their observations and treatment to healthcare facility staff
Document medical care given to patients
Inventory, replace, and clean supplies and equipment after use
What is “The White Paper”?
A report that led to the design and implementation of the first federally qualified ambulance services in the US. Led to higher quality care provided on-scene and in-transit by trained paramedics and EMTs.
What role did/does the NHTSA play in EMS development and regulation?
Provided a standard for EMS care, education, and guidelines.
National Scope of Practice Model
Provides guidelines for minimum skills each level can accomplish
What is a public safety answering point (PSAP)?
a call center responsible for answering calls to an emergency telephone number. A PSAP facility runs 24 hours a day, dispatching emergency services.
Enhanced 911
automatically provides the caller’s location to 911 dispatchers.
EMD
tasked with gathering information related to medical emergencies and the delivery of medical instructions by voice, prior to the arrival of EMS.
Online medical direction
Contacting a physician from the field via radio or other means to obtain instructions on further care of a patient.
Offline medical direction
Standing orders issued by the medical director that allow EMTs to give certain medication or perform procedures without speaking to the medical director or another physician.
Mobile integrated healthcare
patient-centered, mobile resources in the out-of-hospital environment.
Continuous quality improvement (CQI)
progressive incremental improvement of processes, safety, and patient care. Process improvement may be “gradual” or “breakthrough” in nature. CQI project development commonly includes defining the problem, benchmarking, setting a goal, then iterative quality improvement projects.
What is the purpose of CQI?
may include improvement of operations, outcomes, systems processes, improved work environment, or regulatory compliance.
Just culture
shared accountability in which organizations are accountable for the systems they have designed and for responding to the behaviors of their employees in a fair and just manner. Employees are accountable for the quality of their choices and for reporting errors and system vulnerabilities.
