MADISON, Wis. — Students at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are proposing a student-run EMS program they say would both serve the campus community and give students more hands-on emergency medical experience.
Members of Badger EMS said the current program provides education and training, but offers limited practical opportunities, WKOW reported. The group says a student-run model could improve emergency care on campus while giving participants more real-world experience.
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“We definitely think there is a way we can do EMS care more efficiently on campus, and we’re hoping to kind of solve that,” Badger EMS member Jake Wesson said.
The proposal would allow student EMTs to respond to lower-acuity calls, such as intoxication cases on game weekends, minor dorm incidents and medical issues at campus events. Organizers say the program would work in coordination with Madison police, fire and EMS agencies.
“We’ll be able to kind of free up an ambulance, so the ambulance doesn’t need to respond necessarily, but a group of student EMTs could check on the patient, see if further transport is needed, and kind of assess the student from there,” Wesson said.
Student EMTs would be trained to state and national standards, organizers said. Program advisers say the hands-on experience would help prepare students for emergency medicine careers while also improving campus safety by reducing the need for lights-and-sirens responses to lower-acuity calls.
The group has grown from about a dozen members in 2023 to more than 40, and the proposal is now awaiting approval from university administrators.
Should student EMTs be allowed to independently assess low-acuity patients?
