By Connie A. Meyer
NAEMT president
At the beginning of my role as President of the National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians, I shared with our members my goals for our association during my term — a major one focusing on the safety and wellness of EMS practitioners.
I noted that our profession is inherently dangerous because we respond to calls for help where all of the factors on the scene may not be known. These are the unavoidable risks of our job. However, many serious injuries and deaths of EMS practitioners that occur are avoidable and are the result of unsafe practices.
While it is not easy to change our way of caring for patients, change is needed if we are going to protect ourselves and our patients from harm.
Since taking office, I have worked with the support of my fellow members of the NAEMT Board and with our committees to undertake projects that address the safety and wellness needs of EMS practitioners.
In early 2011, our EMS Safety program launched at EMS Today in Baltimore. Now, in 2012, we can proudly say that since then, 252 courses have been held in 38 states, and we have taught over 2,910 students. Every EMS practitioner should take this course, as it provides fundamental safety training for our jobs. Learn more about the course here.
Also in 2011, we embarked on a project to provide our EMS practitioners with a way to anonymously report near-miss and line of duty death information that could be collected and then used in the development of EMS policies and procedures, and for use in educating and preventing similar events from occurring in the future.
We partnered on this project with the Center for Leadership, Innovation and Research in EMS. A task force led by President-elect Don Lundy developed near-miss and line of duty death online report forms, which were combined with an existing patient safety report form to become the EMS Event Notification Tool (E.V.E.N.T.). We urge every EMS practitioner, agency and organization to visit, support and use the site at www.emseventreport.org.
This past January, we launched a new project with the American Council on Exercise (ACE) on an EMS Fitness Project to help improve the health of EMS practitioners and reduce the amount and severity of injuries.
NAEMT also is actively participating in the development of a strategy for a national EMS culture of safety, funded through a grant from the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration. Key elements will include the advancement of “just culture” values and coordinated support and resources for EMS agencies.
Although my term as president ends on December 31, NAEMT’s focus on EMS health and safety will continue to grow under the leadership of NAEMT 2013-2014 President Don Lundy. The health and safety of our practitioners and the patients we serve will continue to be of paramount importance to NAEMT. As always, stay safe out there.