State EMS Emphasis Areas & Strategies

EMS and Highway Safety Officials across the nation are collaborating to ensure inclusion of EMS data and strategies in the state's SHSP. Below are examples of how several states incorporated EMS into their SHSP in recent years.
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Colorado

SHSP Emphasis Area: EMS Vehicles


Related Strategies:
  • Develop an educational program regarding ground ambulance transportation safety that will focus on public education as well as EMS providers and the medical community
  • Develop and support integrated EMS/public health/public safety information and program activities
  • Develop and implement a model comprehensive approach that will ensure appropriate and timely response to the emergency needs of crash victims
  • Develop and implement a plan to increase the education and involvement of EMS personnel in traffic safety efforts
  • Develop an educational program regarding ground ambulance transportation safety that will focus on public education as well as EMS providers and the medical community
  • Develop a best practice manual for EMS response to crashes for urban, suburban and rural areas of the State

District of Columbia

SHSP Emphasis Area: Special Target Area-EMS


Related Strategies:
  • Develop a pilot program to determine the benefits of using GPS systems in the EMS vehicles in locating crash scenes more accurately/quicker
  • EMS Operations Improvement
  • Improve response times to crash scene
  • Approve DDOT internal communications on the 800 frequency between DDOT, FEMS and MDP in order to expedite response times to crashes
  • Develop/Implement an electronic EMS run database
  • Develop/Implement an ER Registry, Hospital Discharge Registry and a Trauma Registry

Idaho

SHSP Emphasis Area: Emergency Response


Related Strategies:
  • Increase emergency scene safety through multi-jurisdictional collaborative training, ensuring that everyone goes home alive
  • Fund training for emergency response personnel to include improving crash investigation accuracy, extrication for big rigs, patient care, emergency scene management and quick response time
  • Construction pre-planning conferences and standardization of emergency response
  • Implement public education/public service announcement campaigns
  • Provide highest level of EMS care practical in rural communities
  • Provide law enforcement with cross training in emergency medical care
  • Partner with law enforcement agencies to establish emergency scene
  • Increase law enforcement for protection of EMS services on roads
  • Provide EMS and fire response personnel the same authority to cite vehicles for violations the same as school bus drivers
  • Provide safe stopping and emergency cross-over locations for law enforcement and emergency services personnel. Locations are responder-driven
  • Intelligent Transportation Systems (DMS, HAR, CCTV, etc.)
  • Develop and implement performance measures and data collection methodologies pertaining to restoration of traffic flow
  • Provide scene photographs as capable to first receivers (hospital emergency departments)
  • Adopt and implement the National Unified Goal for Traffic Incident Management and Idaho Traffic Incident Management Plan
  • Develop mutual and cooperative response agreements for the sharing of supplies, equipment, personnel and information across political borders and enhance partnerships among all response agencies
  • Research areas where emergency communications are hampered due to lack of technology
  • Continue funding of emergency response equipment related to improving patient care and fast/effective turn-around time
  • Establish requirements for Emergency Medical Dispatch in Public Safety Answer Points (PSAP)

Mississippi

SHSP Emphasis Area: EMS


Related Strategies:
  • Increase funding of Statewide Trauma System (maintained by the Mississippi Department of Health)
  • Reduce EMS response time from arrival at site to arrival at medical facility
  • Provide additional training for first responders and trauma center staff

Montana

SHSP Emphasis Area: EMS Delivery


Related Strategies:
  • Improve EMS Education System
  • Preventable mortality study
  • Advanced automatic crash notification project
  • EMS review and assessment of National research strategies
  • Provide a comprehensive data collection and information system to enable system evaluation and performance improvement

New Mexico

SHSP Emphasis Area: Emergency Services


Related Strategies:
  • Improve Traffic Flow and Scene Safety for Motor Vehicle Collisions
  • Maintain and Expand the New Mexico Emergency Medical Services Tracking and Reporting System (NM EMSTARS)
  • Develop Information on the Extent of Injury and Circumstances of People Treated in Trauma Centers
  • Develop an EMS Management Curriculum
  • Maintain and Expand the New Mexico Emergency Medical Services Tracking and Reporting System (NM EMSTARS)

Utah

SHSP Emphasis Area: Emergency Services


Related Strategies:
  • Improve communication infrastructure for emergency response and dispatch
  • Enhance communication interoperability in an effort to decrease incident response time
  • Increase education and involvement of EMS in transportation safety
  • Develop and support integrated EMS and transportation safety programs

Vermont

SHSP Emphasis Area: Enhance Vermont's Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Capabilities


Related Strategies:
  • Improve the availability of emergency medical responders
  • Improve the timeliness of EMS response and transport
  • Assess and improve the Vermont trauma system
  • Assess and improve the quality of clinical care provided to those injured

Washington

SHSP Emphasis Area: EMS


Related Strategies:
  • Improve enforcement and public understanding of ‘move-over' law
  • Assure that seamless communications capabilities between EMS, law enforcement, and fire service agencies are achieved through interoperability
  • Improve enforcement and public understanding of ‘move-over' law
  • Ensure all pre-hospital EMS personnel receive adequate trauma training through Ongoing Training and Evaluation Programs (OTEP)
  • Ensure efficient and adequate distribution of Level 1 and Level 2 Designated Trauma Centers. Increase the number of Level 2 trauma centers in the state, especially in eastern Washington
  • Ensure that all major trauma patients are transported to the highest appropriate level of designated trauma center within a 30 minute transport
  • Identify funding strategies that assist air medical services in filling gaps in coverage for emergency air medical response as identified in the state EMS and Trauma System Plan
  • Increase the percentage of EMS on-scene arrival responses that are within state requirements
  • Ensure adequate and efficient distribution of pre-hospital EMS resources at all levels (aid and ambulance) according to evidence-based EMS and Trauma State and Regional Plans
  • Promote the use of a computerized system of Emergency Medical Dispatch protocols including pre-arrival instructions in all EMS communications centers in Washington State
  • Ensure that all EMS communications personnel are trained in emergency medical dispatch methods to ensure appropriate utilization of available EMS resources
  • Encourage use of GPS technology by EMS agencies throughout the State. Fund GPS units for all ‘first responders'
  • Assure that seamless communications capabilities between EMS, law enforcement, and fire service agencies are achieved through interoperability
  • Expand the Comprehensive Hospital Abstract Reporting System (CHARS) to include emergency department data to promote assessment of EMS system performance and enhance injury surveillance capabilities