Safety Sunday Series

Coming up later today I will be unveiling a series of weekly EMS-related safety messages. They are designed to provide some knowledge about areas of EMS that have been identified as having high risk for the EMS provider. I will also likely delve into patient safety issues at some time, but will focus early editions on keeping us safe. Just like anyone I occasionally get busy and may not be able to get a long article in, but will try to link to some story, or provide some information every Sunday.

I will try to embed or link to other articles, videos, news stories, pictures, etc. within this blog. As with any blog (or internet posting) feedback and discussion is welcome. Many safety issues that I will bring up have been discussed multiple times in multiple areas, though EMS providers still die every month, helicopters still fall out of the sky every year, and every other day a jumbo-jet full of people die in the US due to errors made my EMT's, paramedics, doctors, nurses, pharmacists, etc.

Some people who personally know me, or know of the service I work for, know that less than a month ago two paramedics (Tim is about to be awarded his Paramedic), were killed in the line of duty. My coworkers and friends Timothy McCormick and Cody Medley were driving an ambulance that was struck by a buzzed driver who ran a red light in downtown Indianapolis early one Saturday morning on February 16, 2013. They both died within about 24 hours of the accident. I had planned on starting this series before that time, though the events of that weekend only further brought home the need for these messages.

I was planning on doing these because as a full-time paramedic and part-time trainer I see unsafe behavior almost every day that I work. I have screwed up plenty of times and realize that I still have many unsafe behaviors, and out of pure luck I haven’t wrecked my ambulance, severely injured myself, or have killed a patient (not even sure on the last one). Please, if you have ANY feedback, stories, thoughts, rebuttals, evidence against, etc., share them here. You may also leave thoughts for future issues.

Some areas that I think may help me talk about safety include my formal education while obtaining by Bachelors in Health Management and Masters in Health Administration. During these programs I have included classes in lean process improvement, root cause analysis, healthcare failure modes effect analysis, healthcare risk management, health law, ethics, and organizational behavior. I have also served on a safety committee within an ambulance service that I was a graduate administrative intern and I currently am on a national health and safety committee through the National Association of EMTs. So between my clinical experience and other background I feel that I should be able to help facilitate knowledge spreading about safety issues in EMS.   Enjoy!  

 

Garrett Hedeen, “The Naptown Medic”