EMS

The Coffey County EMS provides Type I medical service to all of Coffey and parts of surrounding counties on a 24 hour basis. The EMS service is staffed with full time paramedics and is capable of providing Advanced Life Support (ALS) for those critical patients. The EMS staff is on duty 24 hours, so they are always ready to respond when an emergency arises.

EMS is a vital public service, as important to your community as the police or fire department. But, surprisingly, few Americans understand how EMS works or what role it plays. A public opinion survey conducted for the American College of Emergency Physicians (ACEP) in 1992 found that nearly half of adult Americans could not identify 9-1-1 as the emergency number, or confused it with 4-1-1, the directory assistance number. Fewer still-just one in five-had talked to their doctor about what to do in a medical emergency. Emergency Medical Services is a system of care for victims of sudden and serious illness or injury. This system depends on the availability and coordination of many different elements, ranging from an informed public capable of recognizing medical emergencies to a network of trauma centers capable of providing highly specialized care to the most seriously ill or injured. The 9-1-1 emergency number, search and rescue teams, and pre-hospital and emergency department personnel are some of the critical elements necessary for the EMS system to work.

Three decades of development

In 1966, a National Academy of Sciences (NAS) report, Accidental Death and Disability: Neglected Disease of Modern Society, documented widespread deficiencies in emergency care. At the time, it was common for emergency patients to be transported to the hospital in vehicles operated by mortuary services and few hospitals had emergency rooms staffed by doctors. The NAS report, which revealed that the average American had a greater chance of survival in combat zones of Korea or Vietnam than on the nation's highways, catalyzed public support for the creation of the EMS system as we know it today. Also in 1966, Congress passed legislation enabling the creation of the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA), setting the stage for the first federal standards in EMS. In the 30 years since, the efforts of EMS providers at all levels have helped make our system the most advanced in the world. But despite its remarkable progress, the EMS system still faces the challenge of declining support for state and federal EMS programs.

EMS Agenda for the Future

You can be a driving force.... EMS community charts its future

The EMS Agenda for the Future is a strategic plan and needs assessment to guide the development of Emergency Medical Services (EMS) into the twenty-first century. The agenda examines what has been learned during the past three decades and creates a vision for the future of EMS. This vision comes at a time when agencies, organizations, and individuals who affect EMS are evaluating their role in the context of a rapidly evolving health care system.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) and the Health Resources and Services Administration, together with the National Association of State Emergency Medical Services Directors, the National Association of EMS physicians and others, realized the need to develop an EMS Agenda for the Future as a guide for EMS providers, health care organizations and institutions, and government agencies and policy makers.

The development of the vision included the appointment of a steering committee representing a cross-section of the EMS community, the scheduling of focus groups, and the distribution of the draft document to roughly 500 interested EMS organizations and individuals for extensive peer review. Finally, a Blue Ribbon Conference held in December 1995 brought the EMS community together to finalize the vision for the future.

The Vision

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) of the future will be community-based health management that is fully integrated with the overall health care system. It will have the ability to identify and modify illness and injury risks, provide acute illness and injury care and follow-up, and contribute to the treatment of chronic conditions and community health monitoring. This new entity will be developed from the redistribution of existing health care resources, and will be integrated with other health care providers and public health and public safety agencies. It will improve community health and result in more appropriate use of acute health care resources. EMS will remain the public's emergency medical safety net.

To realize this vision, the EMS Agenda for the Future proposes continued development of 14 EMS attributes. They are:

Integration of health services
Public Education
EMS research
Prevention
Legislation and regulations
Public access
System Finance
Communications systems
Human resources
Clinical care
Medical direction
Informational systems
Education systems
Evaluation

What does the future hold?

The EMS Agenda for the Future makes some basic predictions about the nature of the future and the environment in which EMS exist. These predictions include:

EMS will represent the intersection of public safety, public health, and health care systems. EMS will continue in some form; and the public expects that will continue. EMS will continue to be diverse at the local level. As a component of health care systems, EMS will be influenced significantly by its continuing evolution, There will be an increasing need for information regarding EMS systems and outcomes. It will be necessary to continue to make some EMS system-related decisions on the basis of limited information, The media will continue to influence the public's perception of EMS Federal funding/financial resources will be decreasing. To make good decisions, public policymakers will need to be well informed about EMS issues.

How to make the vision a reality

All of us have some responsibility for ensuring the health of EMS in the future. The EMS Agenda for the Future will help guide EMS providers, health care organizations and institutions, governmental agencies and policymakers. All must be committed to improving the health of their communities and to ensuring that EMS efficiently contributes to that goal. They must invest the resources necessary to provide the nation's population with emergency health care that is reliable, accessible, effective, subject to continuous evaluation, and integrated with the remainder of the health system.

As EMS systems continue to look for ways of delivering emergency critical care in a more cost-effective and efficient manner, there are several initiatives that should be considered to strengthen the EMS "team" These include:

Expand the role of EMS in public health and prevention.
Invoke EMS in community health monitoring.
Integrate EMS with other health care provider and provider networks.
Be cognizant of the special needs of the entire population.

Forming new partnerships

Our ability to achieve the vision for the future of EMS will depend on our commitment to work together, and to form new partnerships and new relationships. The EMS Agenda for the Future would suggest at least the following partners:

Managed care industry
Physicians
Fire services
State EMS Directors
Ambulance industry
Elected leaders
Academic medical/institution research
Public health agents
Consumers
Communications experts
Economist Education specialists

Together, we can achieve the vision - we can create a more effective, efficient, and accountable EMS system that is better integrated with the rest of the health care system and that better meets the needs of our patients for decades to come. Join us in this opportunity!

For more information contact the National Highway Traffic Safety Association (NHTSA). Emergency Medical Service Division, 400 Seventh Street, SW, NTS-14, Washington, DC 20590 or Fax your request to (202) 366-7721.

The "Star of Life"

Just as physicians have the caduceus, and the pharmacists have the mortal and pestle, Emergency Medical Technicians have the "Star of Life", a symbol whose use is encouraged by both the American Medical Association and the Advisory Council within the Department of Health and Human Services. The symbol's six-barred cross represents the six-system functions of the EMS (see illustration). The staff in the center of the symbol represents medicine and healing. According to Greek mythology, the staff belonged to Asclepius, the son of Apollo (god of light, truth, and prophecy). Asclepius supposedly learned the art of healing from the Centaur Cherion. But he elicited the wrath of the god Zeus when he started resurrecting people from the dead. Fearful that Asclepius' knowledge might render mankind immortal; Zeus slew Asclepius with a thunderbolt. Eventually Zeus restored Asclepius to life, making him a god. Asclepius is usually shown in a standing position, dressed in a long cloak and holding a staff with a curative serpent coiled around it, an image that Zeus later set among the stars. Worshippers used to sleep in Asclepius' temples in the belief that Asclepius cured the sick during their dreams.