EMS Care Chapter 01 | EMS SYSTEMS for the EMT starts with an introduction to the topic and has presentations on various aspects scenarios discuss how the EMS system evolved, how it has to be approached, the important aspects of an EMT’s personality, the certification process involved We subsequently explore  in-depth the following lessons:

1. The Emergency Medical Services System
2. Roles, Responsibilities, and Professionalism of EMS Personnel – Part A
3. Roles, Responsibilities, and Professionalism of EMS Personnel – Part B
4. Quality Improvement
5. Patient Safety

Core Concepts covered :

• The Emergency Medical Services System.
• Roles and Responsibilities of EMS Personnel.
• The professionalism of EMS Personnel.
• Quality Improvement.

Important Notes

• If you only want to take the online course for CME credit, you can pay here.  The fee for online-only does NOT include a skills session nor (re)certification.  You will receive a certificate for CME credit after successful completion of the course.
•  If you sign up for one of those courses, you will be automatically enrolled in this course. Click here for scheduled courses.
• To get credit for this course, you must watch all the lessons in their entirety, the course review, and pass the quiz at the end with a score of 75% or better.

An Excerpt from the course on Multi-System Trauma

There are many activities that can lead to medical errors in EMS. Some of the more high-risk activities include hand-off, communication issues, dropping patients, ambulance crashes, and spinal immobilization.

• Handoffs occur whenever the treatment team for a patient changes, also known as the transition of care. This includes both change of shift, and transfers between units, services, or hospitals. Hence, the purpose of a handoff is to convey accurate information regarding the patient and their treatment, including the patient’s current condition and any recent or anticipated changes. Handoffs are a common source of errors through miscommunication due to distractions, unclear plans, or differing treatment perspectives. A structured handoff tool allows for improved communication with clear expectations for both parties, providing a two-way exchange of information.
• Communication issues. Timely and accurate communications are critical but present many challenges to all responders. While there are many layers and components to communication, including command and control, technical solutions, and the inherent cultures within each of the ambulance services.
• Proper patient handling is something EMS professionals should think about regularly. The patient drops not only put patients at risk, but they can also seriously injure EMS staff, resulting in reduced staffing, recovery times, and additional costs. So, industry research indicates the leading causes of patient drops include: Errors in operating or selecting equipment, lack of balance or insufficient muscle strength, failure to evaluate on-scene hazards, improper maintenance of equipment or outright equipment failure, and provider complacency.
• While Ambulance crashes are a significant risk to prehospital care providers, the patients they are carrying, persons in other vehicles, and pedestrians. Four key factors are generally associated with ambulance crashes: human; operational; environment; and vehicular.