This Week in EMS: A Recap for March 29 - April 4, 2008
The world of CPR underwent a major change this week when the American Heart Association updated their guidelines.
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The world of CPR underwent a major change this week when the American Heart Association updated their guidelines to recommend that lay rescuers do chest compressions only and omit ventilations for adults who have suddenly collapsed.
The AHA still recommends that medical personnel perform conventional CPR, but some agencies are departing from this practice. A new study from Arizona indicates that resuscitation without additional breathing is superior.
Read more about the latest CPR news in the following articles: AHA Says Hands-Only CPR OK and Revised CPR Method Helps Save Arizonans.
Questions arose this week regarding Maryland's medevac system, considered by many to be a national model. Maryland is the only jurisdiction in the country with a statewide system financed by the public.
However, it was revealed that in recent years, about half the patients transported by medevac are not seriously injured, raising questions about whether the cost to taxpayers is necessary or is being used to bolster trauma center billing.
Top EMS leaders debate the merit of this system in the following article, Report Reveals Half of Maryland Medevac Patients Are Not Seriously Injured.
A new audit of the Justice Department shows that rescue personnel who died of heart attacks and strokes while on the job have been improperly denied survivors' death benefits.
The audit was conducted in response to complaints by Congress that survivors were waiting far too long for benefits due them under the 2003 Hometown Heroes Act. The law requires that benefits be paid to the survivors of police, fire and EMS personnel who die of heart attacks or strokes within 24 hours of responding to an emergency.
For details on the audit visit Audit Raps Justice Dept. Benefits Response.
Industry News
AAA Unveils New Online Resource
The American Ambulance Association (AAA) has premiered an online subscription resource program to assist ambulance service providers in part of its initiative to raise the bar for quality, performance, accountability and cost effectiveness of EMS throughout the country.
The subscription program will include an online tool kit that provides resources considered to be the industry's best practices on how to achieve the balance between quality and cost factors.
Click above for more information on this program, named "EMS Structured for Quality: Best Practices in Designing, Managing and Contracting for Emergency Ambulance Service."
Maternal Child Health Bureau Announces Child Death Review Webcast
The Maternal Child Health Bureau of the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services will be hosting a webcast: "Is it Injury or Neglect?"
This webcast focuses on describing child fatalities caused by both injury and neglect. It will be offered April 30, 2008 from 3:00-4:30 EDT. Click above for details.
EMS Magazine Online Exclusive:
EMS Recruitment Best Practices
"No one in EMS has time or resources to waste. So for something as labor-intensive as recruiting can be, you'll want to target your efforts toward audiences likely to be receptive to your efforts and that can give you the kind of workforce your organization needs," writes EMS Magazine Associate Editor John Erich.
Read his online supplement to the March issue for tips on how to find the right people.
Featured Column:
"In the last decade technology has influenced healthcare and EMS. For organizations that have not yet transitioned to a more technology-rich environment, the decision to move in that direction can appear to be daunting," writes EMS management columnist Paul Murphy. "The staff's reactions to technology are likely to span the spectrum from complete acceptance to defiant rejection. These reactions can influence the organization's "success" of accepting the technology and it may even have system-wide influences."
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