Saving Lives Every Day. Celebrating Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week

Saving Lives Every Day. Celebrating Emergency Medical Services (EMS) Week
May 16-22, 2010

Every day, the approximately 1 million emergency medical services professionals have a substantial impact on the care of injured persons and on public health in this country. On average, EMS professionals respond to nearly 16.6 million transport calls every year and work in approximately 15,000 EMS systems across the country.
This year, CDC celebrates EMS Week by reaching out to EMS professionals and acknowledging their dedication and service of EMS nationwide.

CDC’s efforts to help support EMS professionals include:
► Field Triage Decision Scheme: The National Trauma Triage Protocol
http://www.cdc.gov/fieldtriage/
The rapid decisions (or field triage decisions) made by EMS professionals at the injury scene are vital. Last year, CDC, in partnership with 18 organizations, launched this protocol nationally.

► Almost 300,000 guidelines, pocket cards, posters, badges, binder inserts, and training guides for EMS leadership have been distributed in hardcopy or downloaded from CDC’s website.
http://www.cdc.gov/fieldtriage/index.html

► Almost 4,000 people have taken advantage of the free continuing education opportunity (PDF).
http://www.cdc.gov/fieldtriage/pdf/MMWR-a.pdf

Advances in Motor Vehicle Crash Response
http://www.cdc.gov/injuryresponse/aacn.html
To help EMS professionals better and more quickly determine the severity of injuries following a car crash, CDC and the CDC Foundation partnered with OnStar and the GM Foundation. Through this partnership, CDC published Recommendations from the Expert Panel: Advanced Automatic Collision Notification and Triage of the Injured Patient (PDF). Advanced automatic collision notification shows promise in improving outcomes in severely injured crash patients.
http://www.cdc.gov/injuryresponse/pdf/AACN%20Report_FINAL-a.pdf

For more information on EMS Week, visit the American College of Emergency Physicians.
http://www.acep.org/practres.aspx?id=30212