A concept started at HMHQ and spread through other media and users is EMS 2.0 This refers to the reboot and reload of the mission of EMS in the near future to accommodate the changing requirements put on the system. Whether Fire based, EMS based, hospital, clinic, SUV, bicycle…however it is that you deliver EMS needs to be drastically re-envisioned, re-trained and re-deployed. we are no longer an Emergency service but an Encompanying service, an Empowered service, an Evolving service. Follow along with my vision for EMS 2.0 and feel free to give your own both here and in other forums.
Here’s what I’ve said about EMS 2.0 recently:
EMS 2.0, for those of you not familiar, is a concept of changing the delivery and abilities of EMS to adapt to the changes in patient presentation and tools at our disposal. EMS 2.0 is named such because we need an overhaul and upgrade of the current system, not just a polishing and reshuffling of the same old ideas. Painting the ambulances red doesn’t make the men inside them part of the fire service, no matter how shiny it gets.
All the comments here, on twitter and with our friend CK over at Life under the Lights have called our collective ideas to change how EMS is delivered EMS 2.0. Hospital radio reports via instant message, electronic patient care reports downloaded wirelessly on arrival, care back in the hands of the caregivers, not the bureauocrats. Alternates to automatically defaulting to transport in an ALS ambulance to an ER.
Ok, EMS 2.0 it is.
The movement is service based, focusing on what can be provided by EMS staff and giving those providers more access to services other than an ER in a hospital as the only option for patients.
EMS 2.0 combines advanced practice paramedic services as well as a number of options for transport, transfer and relocation.
This new service revolves around a seamless network of emergent, non-emergent, clinic and community resources working together, not each service struggling to deal with eachother’s overload.
Imagine an emergency room that only deals with emergencies. Imagine a clinic that only handles acute, non-emergent cases and a physicians office where people aren’t threatened by large co-pays and 40 day waits to get an appointment.
It won’t be reached in my service time, but if we’re going to get there, the foundation has to be built now.
