EMS EXPO: NC EMS chief stresses importance of 'crisis checklists'
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By Jamie Thompson
EMS1 Senior Editor
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ATLANTA — The importance of EMS agencies having "crisis checklists" in place was stressed at EMS Expo in Atlanta on Wednesday.
During a session aimed at chief officers and managers, Skip Kirkwood said that how agencies handled major situations could define careers.
Kirkwood, chief of Wake County, NC, EMS, said every working day had opportunities for a crisis to happen, making it vital agencies have processes in place to deal with such incidents.
He told the session a crisis can be broken down into three main areas — operational, such as dispatch delays and vehicle collisions, financial management, and clinical misadventures, such as drug overdoes and equipment failures.
Kirkwood said a crisis event can happen at any time, telling the session, "It's not a question of if, it's a question of when."
During the session, Kirkwood said most "high-risk industries" know the importance of crisis checklists including the airline industry but EMS is in some ways lagging behind.
He said while EMS personnel pride themselves on the ability to "control chaos," this strength often only applies to events that happen outside of the agency.
"The thing we miss is that this is someone else's emergency," he said. "When it's our own emergency, it doesn't work the same way and we are going to get it wrong if we don't prepare ourselves."
Kirkwood said his own agency ensures a "no surprises rule" is enforced and followed to ensure all potentially negative information is shared among staff.
"This is something you need to build into your agency." he said. "A 'no surprises rule' means I don't get ambushed by my boss or media to the fact something has happened in my organization that I haven't already heard about."
He told the session to ensure this system is effectively maintained, managers and supervisors need to make sure employees aren't afraid of vocalizing any major concerns.
"If you're shooting the messenger, then people want to stop being the messenger and you stop finding out about important stuff," Kirkwood said.
The session was told it is important that agencies have policies in place that enable them to maintain operations during periods of crisis.
"You may have suffered a terrible loss in your organization, something major may have happened in the community, but part of your job as chief is to make sure the community continues to get served, even though a crisis can be very disruptive to an organization," Kirkwood said.
He told the session he contacts neighboring surrounding counties as early as possible during crisis situations at his own department to bring in extra resources where needed, and added managers should also consider the possibility of bringing in off-duty staff where necessary.
As part of the process for preparing for crisis situations, Kirkwood said agencies should form "crisis management teams." These should be made up, he said, of a range of staff including the chief's office, the public affairs office, operations staff and specialist members depending on the nature of the event such as IT, HR and safety personnel.
Among the main questions it should ask itself are:
• What do we know as fact and what do we know is under investigation?
• What is the degree of potential damage?
• Who is the audience and who are we talking to?
• Who is responsible for executing each part of the plan?
• Who will be the media contact and spokesperson?
