First Responder & Patient Well Being

!! Urgent !!

For Your Protection Read the Following Information Carefully !!

Three qualities all good EMTs have in common are 1) they desire to provide the patient with the best possible care 2) they are committed to obtaining the knowledge and skills that this requires and 3) they are self-motivated to continually increase their knowledge, skills, and ability. The following materials are provided to help facilitate all EMS personnel to meet their responsibilities to maintain, update and expand their knowledge and skills as they apply to new modalities of care, equipment and understanding of critical illness and trauma as they develop.

"EMS is a high-stress job. Understanding the causes of stress and knowing how to deal with them is critical to one’s job performance, health, and interpersonal relationships. To prevent stress from affecting your life negatively, you need to understand what stress is, its physiologic effects, what you can do to minimize these effects, and how to deal with stress on an emotional level."

"Stress is the impact of stressors on your physical and mental well-being. Stressors include emotional, physical, and environmental situations or conditions that may cause a variety of physiologic, physical, and psychological responses."

"Many people are subject to cumulative stress where by insignificant stressors accumulate to a larger stress-related problem. In the emergency services environment (EMS, Police, and Firefighters) stressors may also be sudden and more severe. Some events are unusually stressful or emotional, even by emergency services standards. These acute severe stressors result in what is referred to as critical incident stress."

"Physician, heal thyself." "As providers of health care, doctors need to look after themselves, in all aspects, so they can minister to others. An ill physician is in no position to render care as he or she was trained to do. That dictum applies to all health care providers and goes well beyond just physical factors. In caring for the critically ill and injured, there are many factors and situations that can interfere with the EMT-Bs ability to treat the patient. The personal health, safety and well-being of all EMT-Bs are vital to an EMS operation."

"The Occupational Safety and Health Administration (OSHA) develops and publishes guidelines concerning safety in the workplace. It is also responsible for enforcing these guidelines. OSHA requires all EMT-Bs to be trained in the handling of bloodborne pathogens and in approaching the patient who has a communicable or infectious disease. Training must also be provided for issues including blood and body fluid precautions, respiratory precautions, secretion precautions, and contamination precautions."

Continuous Quality Improvement dictates periodic run review meetings are held in which all those who are involved in patient care review the run reports and then discuss any areas of care that appear to need change or improvement. Federal regulations require yearly meetings and updating of equipment and protocols to minimize the spread of bloodborne pathogens in the work place. Immediate action is mandated by federal regulation to restrain any conditions or practices where a danger exists which could reasonably be expected to cause death or serious physical harm and to avoid, correct or remove such Imminent Danger.

The new technology associated with this material makes it incumbent upon all those involved to meet their responsibilities to change or improve protocol to ensure the public receives the highest standard in patient care. In addition, federal worker requirements to ensure the well-being of every first responder become applicable. Use the items listed below to help guide formal discussions on these and other critical issues concerning this situation.

· The Importance of Self-Protection During Patient Packaging and Transport

· Bloodborne Pathogen Cross Contamination Protection during Serious Trauma Situations

· Bloodborne Pathogen Cross Contamination Protection During Unusually Messy Routine Calls

· Airborne Pathogen Cross Contamination Protection

· Critical Incident Stress Management

· Cumulative Stress Management

· Rig Cleaning Stress and Cross Contamination Concerns

· First Responder Safety Concerns During Patient Lift and Transport

· Continuous Quality Improvement Ensuring the Highest Standard of Patient Care

· Patient Threatening Environmental Situation

· Patient Safety and Comfort During Transport

· Patient Conditions that Threaten First Responder and Bystander Well-Being

· EMT Responsibility for Adherence to Bloodborne Pathogen Containment Related Federal Guidelines

· Employer Responsibility for Adherence to Bloodborne Pathogen Containment Related Federal Guidelines

The first credo of the EMS is to protect the self first. What better way to ensure continued healthy service for all involved then to do so while providing the best possible transport means for the patient. Hopefully, this material will help inspire those people in leadership positions to immediately implement the critical changes necessitated by the advances in technology at their disposal.

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