Following the Science: Evidence-based Approaches to Improving Patient & Provider Safety

Improving the safety of patients, providers and the public is likely a mission of every EMS agency and leader. While the EMS community has widely accepted the role of evidence-based guidelines in clinical care, many organizations have yet to adopt operational evidence-based guidelines to create a safer EMS system.

Lights and Siren Use by Emergency Medical Services(EMS): Above All Do No Harm is one of the most thorough investigations of the topic ever published. EMS physician, paramedic and Pennsylvania Medical Director Douglas Kupas, MD, led the project and shares the impact of emergency lights and siren on response time and transportation time, safety and patient outcomes. Paramedic and researcher Daniel Patterson, PhD, reviewed nearly 40,000 published research articles as part of the Fatigue in EMS initiative, and shares the research, literature and findings on workforce fatigue for EMS and other high-risk occupations. He also reveals what EMS agencies can do to reduce the impact of fatigue on the safety of the workforce, patients and the public.

Presenters:

Douglas Kupas, MD, EMT-P, FAEMS, Professor of Emergency Medicine, Geisinger Health; EMS Medical Director, Pennsylvania Department of Health
P. Daniel Patterson, PhD, NRP, Assistant Professor of Emergency Medicine, University of Pittsburgh
Dave Bryson, EMT, EMS Specialist, NHTSA Office of EMS