12 Steps for Developing Your Community Paramedicine Program [FLYER]

The traditional role of paramedics has long been responding to emergencies, racing against time to provide critical care in moments of crisis. However, as our understanding of healthcare evolves, so have the roles and responsibilities of some paramedics.

Community paramedicine expands the role of paramedics beyond emergency response and into the realm of providing proactive, preventive, and holistic care for their communities. Community paramedics may conduct home visits, perform health assessments, provide health education, assist with medication management, conduct wellness checks, and facilitate connections to physicians, social services, and other community resources.

When starting out, it's important to research what resources are needed, create a work plan, pinpoint key players and who needs to be on board, and assess if a community truly requires and would embrace a CP program. If you're interested in learning more about how to build a community paramedicine program, check out our flyer developed by Community Paramedic Advisor Anne Montera, which details the 12 steps to CP Program Development.

For further resources on how to get the ball rolling for your community paramedicine program, check out the following articles: 

Setting The Table For Community Paramedicine

The good news is, it’s not as hard as you might think to get a basic program up and running. Here is a guideline for departments willing to take that step toward more comprehensive care for the vulnerable in their communities.

Getting Your Community Paramedicine Program Off The Ground

The proverbial table is set, and you’re ready to begin your EMS agency’s community paramedicine program. You’ve evaluated the needs of your patients and community, identified care gaps you can fill, planned how you’ll do it, and lined up appropriate partners to assist. Now: Who will comprise your team? What tools will they carry? How will they communicate and document care? And, once they’re out in the field and helping people, how will you evaluate their success?

If you're curious how Pulsara can help enable and empower community paramedics, here's how healthcare providers in Teller County and Woodland Park, Colorado, are using it to provide next-level care for the patients in their community. 

Metropolitan EMS in Little Rock, Arkansas, developed a protocol to transport eligible pediatric patients directly to behavioral health facilities—allowing 44% of pediatric behavioral health patients to bypass the ED. Here's how they did it.