Fatigue within EMS is usually described in terms of a provider’s ability to get enough sleep. But there are other types of fatigue in health care, the study of which has remained siloed within brick and mortar facilities, resulting in a generic lack of focus from the EMS industry. These types of fatigue are real, and they have real, sometimes deadly, consequences. Defined as “sensory overload … Continue reading Alarm Fatigue in EMS

The National Patient Safety Foundation (NPSF) published a follow-up report to the now famous Institute of Medicine’s “To Err Is Human.” The new report, “Free from Harm”, calls attention to the patient safety lessons learned over the past decade and a half, as well as reminding health care providers that many of the same issues initially spotlighted still remain. Although EMS is not specifically mentioned in … Continue reading The Role of EMS in Patient Safety

Recent news headlines suggest that vehicular safety poses the greatest risk to the lives of EMS providers. While that may be true if the focus is solely on line-of-duty deaths, the majority of EMS deaths occur because of skewed priorities that are too rigorously focused on a single issue. As with any other improvement effort, there is no silver bullet to preventing the death or … Continue reading Shifting the focus on provider safety