National EMS Assessment Report Released
The comprehensive analysis provides a snapshot of every aspect of EMS across the country.
While EMS systems across the country have made great strides, there’s still a lack of information about ambulance crashes, on-the-job injuries and exposures and on-duty deaths.
That’s just a tiny tidbit included in the National EMS Assessment released Wednesday by FICEMS. Funded by NHTSA, the report provides the first thorough snapshot of EMS, EMS emergency preparedness and 911 systems at state and national levels using existing data sources.
The two-year project that examined every aspect of EMS was conducted by officials from the University of North Carolina.
They determined there are an estimated 826,111 credentialed EMS providers. Of those, 64% are EMT-Basic, 24% EMT-Paramedic, and 6% EMT-Intermediate.
The landmark document is a powerful resource and the first national assessment that provides comprehensive data aggregated at both the state and national levels. These data will allow the officials responsible for improving EMS systems to benchmark current and future performance and identify areas of strength and weakness, officials said in a prepared statement.
The report includes information about what data are being collected at the state, regional, and national levels, the comprehensiveness, quality and availability of that data and the limitations of the existing data. It also includes recommendations for a sustainable process to assess the EMS system, FICEMS officials said.
Researchers also determined:
- Only 7 (14%) of the states have a requirement for local EMS Agencies to hold or participate in a mass casualty exercise.
- 34 (68%) of the states indicated that either local or statewide EMS protocols including triage have been implemented and are currently in use by local EMS.
- 44 (88%) of the states currently have a State EMS Data System based on the NEMSIS Standard but only 11 (22%) of the states collect 100% of their EMS events.
- 39 (78%) of the states require local data collection and submission to the State Data System through regulation or law
- 31 (62%) of the states participate in the National EMS Database
- 21 (42%) of the states reported that they use EMS data for public health surveillance monitoring for disease outbreaks and acts of terrorism
