As AI tools move quickly from concept to deployment, EMS leaders face practical questions about value, risk and readiness. This series provides clear, applied guidance for chiefs, directors and agency leaders on how to evaluate and implement AI to support clinical care, reduce documentation burden, improve decision-making, streamline operations and simplify workforce management.
At NEMSMA’s leadership conference, Dr. Brent Myers makes the case that waiting for federal guidance is a losing strategy — and local governance is the only path forward.
SPOTLIGHT ON AI
Why EMS leaders must break the cycle of overwork, silence and unrealistic expectations
LEADERSHIP INSIGHTS
Personnel are often wrongly taught to use decision-making processes for tame and critical problems on the more complex wicked problems
Ricardo Martinez was 20 when he got his first job as a 911 dispatcher; he quickly found out that the job wasn’t going to get easier but harder
EMS doesn’t have an actual paramedic shortage; instead, EMS has a shortage of paramedics willing to work for low wages in terrible working conditions
Improving driving and passenger safety behavior is an immediate action for EMS leaders as safety innovations diffuse through new ambulance purchases
Weigh the expected costs in time and money against a product’s effectiveness in eliminating pathogens
Move beyond a hospital towel and spray bottle of disinfectant with specialized tools to fully eliminate dangerous pathogens from ambulances
Operations policies, driver and occupant training and behavior change come before and during the implementation of new ambulance safety innovations
Imagine how ambulance design and safety can improve when motivation and the desire to do the right thing come together to drive change
Focus on controlling what you can and leave the big picture to other people