Community Paramedicine and the Fire Service: Making Your Plan Work

EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on FireRescue1.com. Special thanks to our guest author, Courtney Levin, for FireRescue1 BrandFocus Staff.

Now that you’ve developed the initial groundwork, these next steps are key to finding success

The fire service is pivotal in caring for their community’s underserved population. Introducing a community paramedicine program allows public safety to dynamically meet those needs.

Yet, developing and successfully implementing a community paramedic program can be daunting. “Generally, anytime you’re implementing a new program, specifically a community paramedicine program, the challenge is you’re doing something you haven’t done before – and there’s nothing more comforting than tradition,” said Kris Kaull, chief growth officer at Pulsara. “If you lead the change, it means you’re a disruptor. There’s certainly something glamorous about that, but there’s also something very disrupting about being a disruptor.”

Developing a community paramedicine program involves several steps before visiting your first patient. After creating departmental buy-in from the top down, thoroughly evaluating the medical needs of those in your community, and selecting a few specific areas for your program to focus on, it’s time to put your plans into action. Yet even if it appears that your department has crossed every t and dotted every i, you might still find the execution of your program doesn’t start smoothly.

WHEN THINGS DON’T GO ACCORDING TO PLAN

During the first few weeks or months of your community paramedicine program journey, you can expect frustration and confusion. Creating – and maintaining – a community paramedicine effort is complex. To help manage it, departments should focus on five key areas recommended by leadership expert Dr. Mary Lippitt:

• Vision – Knowing why your department offers a community paramedicine program is essential to eliminating confusion. If everyone on your team knows why they’re doing what they’re doing, they will have an easier time finding success.
• Skills – The skills involved in community paramedicine differ from what’s typically focused on in EMS education, and these expectations can lead to anxiety. Making additional types of training available is key to treating complex patient illnesses.
• Incentives – It’s natural to ask, “What’s in it for me?” If that question goes unanswered, those in your department may resist their new responsibilities. This ties in closely with the vision your agency has created around your community paramedicine program and needs to be crystal clear before your program begins.
• Resources – Whether it’s not enough time, people, or equipment, a lack of resources will frustrate anyone. Before launching your program, ensure this aspect is thoroughly considered to set your team up for success. If you need to contact community stakeholders for assistance, now’s the time.
• Action plan – Failing to plan is planning to fail. Outlining your community paramedicine program’s plan and making sure everyone in your department understands what’s required of them minimizes false starts and keeps things running smoothly.

RELYING ON ADDITIONAL EDUCATION

Vision, skills, incentives, resources, and a plan are all critical to a successful community paramedicine program. Still, one in particular – skills – may not always be able to be accomplished in-house. Discussions around vision or an action plan can happen at any place or time, but it’s the clinical education and experience required to meet the needs of underserved community members that may prove challenging for your department.