Just-Cause Volunteer Services, Inc.    

 EMS Safety covers safety in emergency vehicles, at the operational scene and while handling patients, as well as patient, practitioner and bystander safety and personal health.

The course offers an overview of current issues surrounding safety in EMS, presents and discusses case studies, builds risk assessment and decisionmaking skills and provides an opportunity for participants to relate their own experiences with EMS safety issues.

EMS Safety is for all EMS practitioners, other medical professionals providing prehospital patient care, EMS supervisors and administrators concerned with safety. Students who take EMS Safety will learn to: n Identify key elements in the safe operation of an ambulance. 

Describe techniques for moving and securing patients safely.  Recognize situations where the EMS practitioner may be at risk of violence, and how such situations may be either avoided or addressed. n Appreciate the importance of maintaining good personal health, and the impact of EMS service on practitioners’ personal health.

Address safety elements in a variety of operational situations. The EMS Safety curriculum The course charges students to become leaders in creating a culture of safety within EMS and identifies steps they can take to be a part of the process. The curriculum covers the following: n Crew resource management — Adapts airline industry concept of a “sterile cockpit” to ambulance cab and patient compartments, stressing clear communications and situational awareness. 

Emergency vehicle safety — Reviews principles of defensive driving, ambulance design dangers, use of warning lights and sirens, common driving distractions, risk mitigation techniques, and the importance of securing patients, equipment and personnel. n Responsibilities in scene operations — Addresses roadside safety, warning device use, apparatus, lighting, and high-visibility clothing, and interagency planning and cooperation, giving students the opportunity to describe how they would protect the scene in a series of simulated incidents.

Patient handling — Covers body mechanics and safe moving of patients using proper lifting techniques and mechanical and other transfer aids, strategies to avoid common back injuries, the “EGGS” methodology, proper evaluation, planning and preparation for patients and the environment, and equipment selection and use.

Patient, practitioner and bystander safety — Discusses crime scenes and dangerous facilities, commonly improvised weapons, handling of weapons found at the scene, techniques of verbal de-escalation and self defense, chemical and physical restraints, and incidents of violence. n Personal health — Outlines the importance of personal health in preventing accidents and injuries, stresses unique to EMS, caring for mental health, techniques to ensure sleep despite demanding or erratic schedules, and the importance of fitness, exercise, and proper nutrition and hydration.

Price for this course is $160