The Bottom Line: Insights Into EMS Staffing [2024 EMS Trend Survey]
Editor's Note:In August 2024, EMS1 and Fitch & Associates released their annual EMS trend survey, What Paramedics Want, proudly sponsored by...
3 min read
Audrey Peart : Feb 06, 2023
How Embracing Modern Technology Paves the Way for the Future of EMS Communications
We’ve seen firsthand the shortcomings of our current infrastructure systems and how they’ve broken down when we desperately needed them to work for us. We continue to rely heavily on two-way radios, phone calls, and emails which can be inefficient and prevent shared awareness. What if we told you there’s a newer — even more efficient — way to communicate, using ONE tool to connect team members whether in daily operations or major stress events? And, what if this tool could even step in at an infrastructural level for regions or states to be able to standardize how EMS organizations can coordinate with public health, safety, and emergency management to communicate and track individual patients?
Healthcare is at a turning point. We either join other industries with modern communication or rely on old methods that have not evolved to meet today's challenges.
In this interview presented by the National Association of State EMS Officials (NASEMSO), Corey Ricketson, Pulsara Sales Vice President - Texas, and Eric Epley, Executive Director of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC), will identify what it takes to build a true system of care that scales. Learn how modern and scalable technologies are necessary to maintain this infrastructure system into the future, the use of statewide wristbands for every patient type to improve patient handoffs and tracking, the benefits of using the same communication platform for everyday patient transports, transfers, and transitions of care and stress events, and how platforms like Pulsara can power a community paramedicine program.
- CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW -
Date: Wednesday, February 15, 2023
Time: 4:00 PM ET | 3:00 PM CT | 2:00 PM MT | 1:00 PM PT
Host: NASEMSO
Cost: FREE
Speaker: Eric Epley, Executive Director, Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council (STRAC)
Eric Epley is the Executive Director of the Southwest Texas Regional Advisory Council for Trauma (STRAC) in San Antonio, TX. STRAC serves 22 counties that stretch over 26,000 square miles, whose membership includes 55 hospitals, 75 EMS agencies, and 14 helicopter bases. Since STRAC’s founding in 1998, Epley has led the growing organization through many initiatives, including regional low-titer O+ whole blood (LTO+WB) in the field and the deployment of a regional wireless electronic medical records (EMR) system that now has over 3 million medical records. STRAC also has regional clinical registries for trauma, cardiac, stroke, and ICU care from 35 hospitals in South Texas, a 12-lead EKG wireless transmission system, and a research division that has multiple research protocols in Trauma and EMS underway for the US Army Institute for Surgical Research, Dept. of Defense.
Mr. Epley also spearheaded the development of the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force (EMTF) program, which has field hospitals, AMBUS’s, ambulances, air medical assets, Infectious Disease Response Units, TMORT, and other response capabilities. One of the shining achievements for Epley was the conceptualization, implementation, and growth of the STRAC-ID PIV-I smart card credentialing program for physicians and first responders in San Antonio and South Texas.
Epley is a Certified Emergency Manager with nearly 35 years in public safety response and administration, a nationally registered paramedic for over 30 years, and a licensed police officer for 13 years, serving as a tactical paramedic at the Branch Davidian standoff, the Republic of Texas standoff and other high-profile Texas incidents. Epley served as a flight paramedic for San Antonio AirLife for 10 years where he also received the National Flight Paramedic of the Year award in 1996. He responded to New Orleans for Hurricane Katrina as one of the Strike Team Leaders on the Texas Task Force-1 USAR Swiftwater team, and director of the Regional Medical Operations Center (RMOC) in San Antonio for Hurricanes Rita, Dean, Dolly, Eduard, Gustav, and Ike. Epley is certified as a Type III Incident Commander and served as a Deputy IC on the Alamo IMT. He is currently Chair of the Governor’s EMS & Trauma Advisory Council’s Disaster Committee, which develops hospital and EMS response plans for statewide disasters and oversees the Texas Emergency Medical Task Force (EMTF) Program. He is also a member of the TX Emergency Management Advisory Council (TEMAC) and the State Health Dept Preparedness Coordinating Council.
Moderator: Corey Ricketson, Sales VP - Texas at Pulsara
After getting his start in healthcare at the age of 15, Corey Ricketson quickly rose through the ranks at Austin-Travis County EMS, serving as a rescue medic, flight paramedic, and special operations commander. Having always had a passion for process improvement and stellar clinical delivery, Corey joined ESO Solutions, an ePCR startup, in 2008. He helped grow the company from 18 clients to over 4,000. Corey’s particular love for the pediatric specialty led him to join the amazing team at Handtevy, where he fulfilled a commitment he’s always made to himself: to work in a job that makes a positive impact on society and pushes the world to be a better place.
As Pulsara's Sales VP - Texas, Corey’s goals are to streamline patient movement workflow, advance interoperability, and improve communications toward healthy systems of care. Staying ahead of an ever-changing and demanding emergency management and healthcare ecosystem is a challenging, yet rewarding proposition that keeps Corey waking up excited every day. Dedicated to creating a safer and more efficient patient experience by leveraging technology, connecting care teams, and ensuring the continuum of care is seamless and transparent, Corey thrives on teamwork and loves working alongside the most talented in the industry.
- CLICK HERE TO REGISTER NOW -
What if you could turn your fire and EMS crews into force multipliers, empowering them to help reduce healthcare disparities, improve support for behavioral crisis patients, and even bring back and modernize the traditional “house call”? Watch the webinar to learn how Colorado EMS leaders set up a regional system of care to do just that.
Editor's Note:In August 2024, EMS1 and Fitch & Associates released their annual EMS trend survey, What Paramedics Want, proudly sponsored by...
EDITOR'S NOTE: This article originally appeared on FireRescue1.com. Special thanks to our guest author, Courtney Levin, for EMS1 BrandFocus Staff....
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