Reducing on-the-job deaths and injuries is the goal of EMS Safety—Taking Safety to the Streets, a new course offered by the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians (NAEMT). Designed to increase awareness and understanding of EMS safety standards and practices, the course is designed for EMS practitioners, supervisors and administrators.
The comprehensive curriculum covers ambulance safety; scene safety; patient, practitioner and bystander safety; and personal health. The course was offered for the first time on March 1 in Baltimore, in conjunction with the EMS Today conference, and received high marks from participants and an endorsement from the National EMS Management Association. Glen Luedtke, chair of NAEMT’s Safety Committee, received the 2011 Nicholas Rosecrans Award for Excellence in Injury Prevention on behalf of
NAEMT for its work in creating the course.
“Every day we see articles about EMTs, paramedics or medical first responders who have died or been seriously injured in the line of duty,” says Luedtke. “Some 25 percent of EMS workers will suffer a career-ending back injury within the first four years of service. Many of these deaths and injuries are preventable, but up until now we haven’t created the kind of culture of safety that we need to keep our EMS practitioners on the job and healthy.”
