Thursday, October 23, 2014
Monday, October 13, 2014
Monday, September 29, 2014
Sunday, August 31, 2014
Saturday, August 16, 2014
What Is EMS?
Emergency Medical Services, more commonly known
as EMS, is a system that provides emergency medical care. Once it is
activated by an incident that causes serious illness or injury, the
focus of EMS is emergency medical care of the patient(s). EMS is most
easily recognized when emergency vehicles or helicopters are seen
responding to emergency incidents. But EMS is much more than a ride to
the hospital. It is a system of coordinated response and emergency
medical care, involving multiple people and agencies. A comprehensive
EMS system is ready every day for every kind of emergency.
EMS
is an intricate system, and each component of this system has an
essential role to perform as part of a coordinated and seamless system
of emergency medical care. An EMS system comprises all of the following
components:
- 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
- Volunteer and career prehospital personnel
- Physicians, nurses, and therapists
- Administrators and government officials
- An informed public that knows what to do in a medical emergency
EMS does not exist in isolation, but is
integrated with other services and systems intended to maintain and
enhance the community's health and safety. As seen in the graphic above,
EMS operates at the crossroads between health care, public health and
public safety. A combination of the principles and resources of each is
employed in EMS systems. Since EMS providers work in the community, they
are often the first to identify public health problems and issues. The
emergence of significant health problems is often heralded by its
arrival in the Emergency Department and it arrives via EMS. Since EMS
providers respond to all kinds of emergencies and all kinds of hazards,
they often work shoulder-to-shoulder with public safety colleagues in
law enforcement and fire services. But their primary mission is
emergency medical care.
The organizational structure of EMS, as well as
who provides and finances the services, varies significantly from
community to community. Prehospital services can be based in a fire
department, a hospital, an independent government agency (i.e., public
health agency), a non-profit corporation (e.g., Rescue Squad) or be
provided for by commercial for-profit companies. But, regardless of
provider, the essential components of an EMS System remain the same.
The diagram above illustrates the complexity of
an EMS system. In the diagram, the large circle represents each system
element as it is activated in response to an incident. The "brown
arrowed" elements within the circle represent the specialty care areas
within EMS. The list within the circle represents the elements acting
behind the scenes to support the system. In order to be "ready every day
for every kind of emergency," an EMS system must be as comprehensive as
the one pictured above. Developing and maintaining such a system
requires thoughtful planning, preparation, and dedication from EMS
stakeholders at the local, State, and Federal levels.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)