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| EMS, FIRE RESCUE, DISASTER MANAGEMENT INFORMATION SINCE 1998 | | | |
June 2007 | Vol. 10 No. 6
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Modify Shift Schedules and OT Policies to Fight Fatigue
Managers at Austin-Travis County, Texas, EMS knew they had a problem: Paramedics at urban stations responded to 20 to 30 calls during their 24-hour shifts, leaving them virtually no time to rest, much less sleep. On the other hand, paramedics at rural stations in the county on average responded to three or fewer calls per shift, resulting in a discrepancy in workload and potential safety issues for the county’s busiest crews. ....
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Get a Fix on Employee Satisfaction to Reduce Turnover
In 1965, the Rolling Stones bumped Sonny and Cher’s “I Got You Babe” off the top of the charts with a song that became the Stones’ biggest hit, “(I Can’t Get No) Satisfaction.” A generation of Americans made this their theme song as they searched for life’s meaning. How satisfied are you with your work, your job, your boss and your organization? How happy are the folks on your team? Can you get any satisfaction?....
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The Precarious State of Field Termination of Resuscitation
The American Heart Association (AHA) recommends that all EMS systems develop protocols for the cessation of resuscitative efforts in the field. The National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) also supports out-of-hospital termination of resuscitation (TOR) for adult, non-traumatic cardiac arrest patients who have not responded to full resuscitative efforts.....
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How to Measure Your Billing Efficiency
EMS managers are constantly on the lookout to improve performance and make their EMS operations at once effective and efficient. With the advent of EMS billing software packages, managers also are bombarded with sales literature making claims about improved efficiency in billing and collections. How does one measure billing efficiency in an ambulance transport agency? What should one measure, and what level of performance is deemed good, better and best?....
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Fire Service Fights for EMS
A newly formed group, Fire Service-Based EMS Advocates chose the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC) Fire Rescue Med conference in early May as the venue to release a white paper that it will use to lobby on behalf of the provision of EMS by the nation’s fire departments. The group is comprised of the IAFC, the International Association of Fire Fighters, the National Volunteer Fire Council, the National Fire Protection Association and the Congressional Fire Services Institute.....
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Quick Look at the News
Local communities will be the first to recognize a pandemic influenza outbreak, and they will be on the front line of response until a national alert is declared and additional resources made available. Recognizing this responsibility, the Department of Homeland Security has published Pandemic Influenza: Best Practices and Model Protocols, containing model protocols to guide pandemic preparation and response plans for state, local, tribal and territorial agencies.....
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Media Monitor
The three keys to career success and finding the job of your dreams are networking, networking, networking. Evolutionary biologists point out that humans are hardwired to network because our ancestors who learned to band with others had a better chance of survival. So why is networking so hard? Because, writes author Barbara Ehrenreich, networking feels fake. “You aren’t meeting people because you want to make friends or find allies, but because you want something from them,” writes Ehrenreich, who extensively researched and tried networking for a book on dream jobs in America. She writes that business-style networking is hard because it “represents a form of predation itself, not unlike cruising a bar for a one-night stand.”....
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Research Monitor
Emergency departments (EDs) staffed with paramedics enhance the off-loading efficiency of ambulances transporting patients to a full-capacity ED. Orlando Regional Medical Center assessed ambulance off-load times prior to and after staffing their ED with paramedics. After undergoing orientation in the ED, the paramedics trained to assist with all ambulance - delivered patients – except trauma alert, stroke alert, and direct admit patients – during full-capacity periods, with the goal ultimately to help decrease off-load time and increase field availability of EMS units. Prior to this program, more than half of the offloads took less than 15 minutes, while 15 percent took more than an hour. With ED paramedics focused on off-loading, three-quarters of the off-loads took less than 15 minutes and less than 1 percent took more than an hour. ....
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Washington Monitor
Six of the leading fire services organizations sent a letter to President Bush urging him to investigate the Department of Justice (DOJ) for its failure to implement the Hometown Heroes Survivors Benefits Act.....
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An Open Letter to the Fire Service
Dear United States Fire Service:You are big, strong and the nation’s undisputed all-hazard responder. You have 30,000 departments across the nation and more than 1 million firefighters. You respond to millions of emergency medical calls each year in addition to your firefighting responsibilities. You have widespread respect from the public, a high-level fire administration in the federal government, the largest caucus in Congress, one of the most powerful labor unions in the country and envious political clout, as evidenced by your hosting the first Presidential Forum of the 2008 election earlier this year.....
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Take Aim Not Blame with Whole Message Communication
In my last article on leadership (Best Practices, February 2007), I introduced the concept of taking a systems approach to leadership. I’d like to continue with that thought by suggesting that you learn to work effectively with your staff by using what is called whole message communication.....
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