Alaska Virtual Learning EMS ECHO Series
Please join us tomorrow! The EMS ECHO is a virtual learning network intended for Emergency Medical Services and related personnel in Alaska to amplify best practices. Sessions are topic driven and typically include a guest presenter or a brief lecture with an interactive case or process discussion.
Click here to register for the EMS ECHO series.
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Upcoming Session: Friday, April 23rd at 10am
Topic: Ground EMS Crew, Preparing for the Areomedical Hand-off
Speaker: Steve Heyano
Occurrence: Every 2nd and 4th Friday from 10:00-11:00am.
Check out resources and recordings from past EMS ECHOs here.
EMT-1 Provider Transition
The State Office of EMS is pleased to announce the official rollout of the 2019 Scope of Practice EMT-1 Transition Course. The course has been designed to be flexible and accommodate a variety of learning styles and time constraints. The course has been divided into two parts, which include a didactic portion and psychomotor skills portion. Individuals may choose to accomplish the transition through a hybrid style course that utilizes an online component for the didactic portion; or complete the entire course with an in-class instructor. For those wishing to complete the didactic portion online, the state has developed a free online Moodle-based class for providers to utilize. (Agencies may develop their own online solution as well). Please note, the 2019 EMT-1 Scope of Practice includes some skills and medications that require medical direction, therefore, while you will receive training on them in the transition course, you may not practice them without a medical director sponsor.
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All EMT-1s will need to successfully complete both portions of the transition by December 31st, 2023. New certification cards, verifying successful transition will be issued when you complete your regular recertification application during your next recertification time period.
Read the full EMT-1 Provider Transition Guidance Memo here.
To help clarify what the transition process entails, please watch the 2019 EMT-1 Provider Transition video.
Providers will see change to Alaska's Comfort One as we transition to POLST
Front-line EMS and healthcare providers can anticipate upcoming change to the Comfort One Program as regulations for Physician Orders for Life-Sustaining Treatment (POLST) have been signed by the Lieutenant Governor to take effect beginning May 6, 2021.
The Comfort One program was established in Alaska in1996 to assist providers in both identifying and continuing decisions regarding end-of-life care that have been made by the patient and their family to be facilitated by providers within the palliative care continuum.
POLST is an approach to improving palliative or end-of-life care that was created in 1991 in Oregon and is or currently being implemented by many states. The difference between the POLST and Comfort One programs is the portability and cross-care recognition between different levels of providers that patients and their families might expect to come in contact with while care is being provided during this process, to include EMS, home healthcare, hospice, emergency departments. To facilitate the change from Comfort One to POLST, a collaboration between different levels of providers like palliative care specialists, home and extended healthcare, EMS and emergency room physicians are meeting and working together to ensure that POLST is implemented with representation, support, and education for providers and the public.
The POLST work-group will be to meeting soon to plan steps forward, If you would like to participate in the implementation and transition of the POLST program as a representative of EMS, contact Programs Specialist, Terry Kadel.
Start Planning for EMS Week 2021!
EMS Week 2021 will be celebrated May 16th-22nd. This year's theme is “This is EMS: Caring for Our Communities”. There are many different ways you can celebrate EMS Week with your community partners to include: scheduling times for recognition, community education and outreach, and fun!
A fire service in Washington celebrated EMS Week by scheduling a virtual open house to showcase the services that they provide for their community. This idea could be expanded upon by recording videos and sharing them through social media and other various platforms available to your service.
Also, every year on Wednesday of EMS Week is EMS for Children Day. EMS for Children day is dedicated to addressing the needs of children in emergencies and serves as an opportunity to raise awareness about improving specialized care for children in prehospital and acute care settings.
Check out EMS Week materials and ideas here.
It is important to honor and show our respect to our fellow Emergency Medical Services providers as well as show our communities how resilient and committed you are in the work you do!
How will you and your agency celebrate?
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Email EMS Vitals and let us know what you are planning!
Recommended Essential Equipment for BLS and ALS Ground Ambulance
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The “Recommended Essential Equipment for Basic Life Support and Advanced Life Support Ground Ambulances 2020” paper has been officially published in the National Association of EMS Physicians publication Prehospital Emergency Care, April 2021. This paper is an updated guideline on national minimum equipment for ambulances and is endorsed by the AAP, ENA, ACS-COT, NAEMT, NAEMSP, NASEMSO and EMSC/EIIC.
Read the new equipment recommendations here.
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Prehospital Use of TXA in Head Injured Patients
The Alaska Trauma System Review Committee (TSRC) released a statement in September 2020 recommending the following for Prehospital Use of Tranexamic Acid (TXA) in Head Injured Patients:
- Head injury is not a contraindication to TXA use in the prehospital setting.
- TXA should not be initiated more than 3 hours after injury.
- A TXA protocol using 2 grams over 10 minutes as a one‐time dose is the preferred method for administering TXA in the prehospital setting.
Please read the full TSRC statement here.
Pediatric Emergency Care Coordination
Improve pediatric emergency outcomes by being a Pediatric Emergency Care Coordinator. Please share the resources found in this section with fellow emergency care providers. Thank you!
Pediatric Readiness in the Emergency Department
The National Pediatric Readiness Project (NPRP) Assessment launches May 1st! All Alaska Emergency Departments (ED) will be invited to participate in the largest initiative to improve the readiness of EDs to care for children in the United States!
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Pediatric Education and Training Resources
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Pediatric Education and Advocacy Kits (PEAK) were created to house best practice educational resources to empower all providers of pediatric emergency care to deliver the highest quality of care and support to all children. Educational content includes multiple delivery methods including interactive web based learning modules, case-based question banks, audio and video podcasts, webinars, and simulation resources.
Check out PEAK here.
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SimBox + TeleSimBox was developed to provide free online remote learning for everyone. Included are step-by-step guides to help you facilitate a telesimulation. There is no need to leave the station or obtain additional equipment and supplies; simulations can be run anywhere!
Check out SimBox + TeleSimBox here.
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The Ambulance EMS for Children Survey is Closed
Thank you for helping EMS for Children with this 2021 data collection effort!
The results of the survey are expected to be ready by Fall 2021. Alaska EMS Ambulance agencies should expect to see this survey annually as it is part of an ongoing quality improvement effort.
Watch this short video on the importance of this survey and read the policy statement on Pediatric Readiness in EMS Systems.
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