West Coast Chapter 1 Flashcards

This flashcard set covers the foundational concepts of EMS systems, including training levels, historical documents, medical direction, and professional attributes as outlined in Chapter 1.

Licensure

The process by which states ensure applicant competency in an examination setting, allowing states to manage who can function as a health care provider.

Emergency Medical Responder (EMR)

A provider who provides basic, immediate care including bleeding control, CPR, AED, and emergency childbirth; usually the first to arrive on a scene.

Emergency Medical Technician (EMT)

Includes all EMR skills, advanced Training in basic life support, use of airway adjuncts, noninvasive blood pressure monitoring, pulse oximetry and assisting patients with certain medications.

Advanced Emergency Medical Technician (AEMT)

A provider with training in specific aspects of advanced life support (ALS), including IV therapy, advanced airway devices, and intraosseous access (IO), blood glucose monitoring, and the admin of certain medication.

Paramedic

The highest level of prehospital care, requiring $1,000$ to more than $1,300$ hours of training in ALS including endotracheal intubation, emergency pharmacology, cardiac monitoring, and other advanced assessment and treatment skills.

The White Paper- Accidental Death and Disability: The Neglected Disease of Modern Society

A $1966$ paper widely considered the birth of modern EMS. It spotlighted inadequacies of prehospital care in the United States.

NHTSA

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration, which developed the EMS Agenda for the Future and the National EMS Scope of Practice Model.

Americans with Disabilities Act (ADA) of $1990$

Legislation that protects people with disabilities from being denied access to state/local government programs and prohibits employment discrimination against the disabled.

State Level

Licensure is a state function. Laws regulate how EMS providers will operate. The standards for prehospital emergency care and the individuals who provide it are typically regulated by the state office of EMS.

Public Safety Access Point (PSAP)

The $911$ system where dispatchers obtain information and dispatch resources.

Emergency Medical Dispatch (EMD)

A system developed to assist dispatchers in providing callers with vital medical instructions until EMS arrival.

Human Resources

Focuses on EMT well being, career progression and compensation.

Medical Director

A physician who authorizes EMTs to provide medical care in the field and serves as a liaison between the medical community and the EMS service.

Protocols

Described in a comprehensive guide delineating the EMT’s scope of practice (locally).

Standing Orders

A part of protocols that designate what an EMT is required to do for a specific condition without needing to consult medical direction first.

Off-line Medical Control

Indirect medical control consisting of standing orders, training, and supervision.

Online Medical Control

Direct medical control where physician directions are given over the phone or radio.

Training, protocols, and practices must conform to the EMS legislation, rules, regulations, and guidelines adopted by…

each state.

Mobile Integrated Health care (MIH)

A method of delivering health care within the community by an integrated team of professionals, evolved from the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act.

Community Paramedics

An aspect of MIH where experienced paramedics receive advanced training to provide services such as health evaluations, monitoring chronic illnesses, obtaining laboratory samples, and administering immunizations.

Continuous Quality Improvement (CQI)

A system of internal and external reviews and audits intended to identify areas of improvement and/or assign remedial training for EMS personnel.

EMT Training in nearly every state…

meets or exceeds the federal guidelines recommended by the – NHTSA.

Primary Prevention

Public health strategies that focus on preventing an event from ever happening.

Secondary Prevention

Strategies used after an event has occurred to decrease the effects of that event.

Professional Attributes

Time management, Communications, Teamwork and diplomacy, Respect, Patient advocacy, Careful delivery of care.

HIPAA

The Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act96$$, a federal law that protects patient health information.