By Joseph D. Bryant
al.com
HOOVER, Ala. — Uniformed first responders huddled on their knees doing chest compressions on a person in one corner while another team took instructions from a nurse to help what appeared to be a small child in need of medical care.
A third group worked to clear the airway of a mannequin choking on its own fluid.
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The room upstairs at the Hoover Fire station in Inverness was filled with EMTs intent on answering the challenges. While these were simulations, the next call may not be.
The Alabama EMS Challenge brings together first responders with emergency room doctors to give hands-on lessons through classes and simulations with high-tech mannequins.
“It’s geared toward giving the medics the skills they need to take care of patients,” said Dr. Will Ferguson, UAB director of the Office of EMS, who founded the initiative. “When you look at what the paramedics do today, they do physician-level skills, but they don’t have the benefit of medical school or quality improvement programs or training in the hospital.”
The Alabama Fire College partners with the UAB Department of Emergency Medicine twice a month to present the program.
Bailey Price gets excited each time class is called into session across the state, whether in large training rooms filled with dozens of people to rural offices with a handful of attendees.
“The number doesn’t matter because we’ve still got to get the training for everybody,” said Price, EMS section chief at the Alabama Fire College during a recent session.
The Alabama EMS Challenge aims to bring emergency room physicians directly to first responders.
“The medics are able to ask us questions as physicians that they wouldn’t ask online or in a big class because it’s laid back, and we build these relationships, so they are comfortable talking to us about cases,” Ferguson said. “And after we do that, we run through skills so that we know we are giving these guys the skills and the hands-on experience they need to take care of people in the real world.”
The program began in 2014 at UAB Highlands Hospital in Birmingham and then expanded to presentations across the state.
“At the fire college we have a statewide reach and it only made sense for us to partner with UAB,” Price said. “We want people no matter where they are to have good training, and this is a great way to do it because it’s physician-led.”
Price said the program is offered simultaneously in person and online where several hundred people regularly participate. And it continues to grow. Price attends each session.
“No one requires them to go to these things and yet we see attendance go up and up,” he said. “The hands-on is the biggest draw because you just don’t get that opportunity very often.”
While practices evolve and technology advances in medical care, Ferguson said the ultimate goal remains the same. Ferguson is also a former EMT and flight nurse.
“We want to make it so that no matter where you are in the state if you call 911 you get competent, educated and trained medical providers,” he said. “We’re going to see better outcomes in patient care because of this.”
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