Virginia

Gary R. Brown, Director
P. Scott Winston, Assistant Director
Office of EMS, Virginia Dept. of Health
10401 Technology Park Drive
Glen Allen, VA 23059
804/888-9100; 800/523-6019 (Virginia only)
Fax 804/371-3108
www.vdh.virginia.gov/oems
emstechasst@vdh.virginia.gov

EMT-Basic: Skills include: All skills listed in the DOT lesson plans. Hours of training: 121. Certification requirements: Must be at least 16 years of age; pass state written and practical examination. Recertification requirements: Every 4 years.

EMT-Enhanced (VA program only): Skills include: Patient assessment, advanced airway adjuncts, IV, certain medications. Hours of training: 128+. Certification requirements: Must be at least 18 years of age.

EMT-Intermediate: Skills include: Patient assessment, advanced airway adjuncts, IV, EKG recognition defibrillation and use of all common cardiac medications. Hours of training: 329+. Certification requirements: Must be at least 18 years of age. DOT Intermediate Curriculum. Must pass National Registry written and practical exam. Recertification requirements: Must recertify every 3 years.

EMT-Paramedic: Skills include: All skills listed in the national Paramedic training program published by DOT. Hours of training: 800+. Certification requirements: Must be at least 18 years of age. DOT Paramedic Curriculum. Must pass National Registry written and practical examinations. Recertification requirements: Must recertify every 3 years.

Responsible certification agency: The Office of EMS, Virginia Department of Health. State law requires a medical director for all BLS and ALS agencies.

Reciprocity: We have reciprocity for Basic EMT with PA and DC. Applicants from other states eligible for certification by legal recognition. ALS reciprocity for National Registry for Intermediate and Paramedic.

Salary ranges: N/A

Number of licensed ambulance vehicles (public and private) in the state: 4,255.

Numbers of EMS personnel (state certified): First Responder, 1289; Basic EMT, 24,669; Enhanced, 2,374; Intermediate, 2,989; Paramedic, 4,269; EMT Instructor, 574; ALS Coordinator, 523; EMS Physicians, 210.

Numbers of EMS services: Volunteer, 457; commercial, 67; governmental, 95; industrial, 31; nonprofit, 13; other, 18.

Number of requests for EMS in the most recent available 12-month period: The Virginia Office of EMS has implemented a new pre-hospital patient care data collection program, and will be able to produce quality and accurate data reports soon.

Statewide uniform ambulance reporting form: A state-developed uniform patient care report form is provided. EMS agencies are allowed to develop their own forms if they comply with the state minimum data set. Agencies are required to submit uniform data sets quarterly. These submissions are now done through the electronic VPHIB program.

Description of statewide data-gathering system: The Virginia Pre-Hospital Information Bridge (VPHIB) is the web-based electronic patient care data collection system that has been implemented throughout Virginia. The VPHIB system provides a secure method of collecting pre-hospital data, extracting existing data, and exporting or sharing data for strategic planning and process improvement initiatives. This gives EMS agencies in Virginia the flexibility to collect their own data and then upload to the state via XML or enter their runs via a web browser using an online run form. From January 19 through April 12, 2010 the entire Commonwealth was phased into moving from manual pre-hospital patient care reporting to the new web version of VPHIB. The Office of EMS received a Homeland Security Grant Program for funding of 762 ToughBook laptops to Virginia EMS governmental and volunteer agencies. The ToughBooks are now used in the field to electronically report patient care data to OEMS through VPHIB.