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.
View State Success Stories
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