A document detailing data collected during the National EMS Assessment was released by the Federal Interagency Committee for Emergency Medical Services (FICEMS) and it’s very telling about the state of EMS at the state and national levels. I’m still working through reading it (you can find it here but it’s a 550 page PDF – consider yourself warned) but some of the findings listed in an article on EMS1 provide a good summary. What do I have to say about the findings?

We have a long, long way to go.

We as a branch of healthcare and we as a profession are nowhere near where we should be.

One of the things you can notice on EMS1′s summary is just how non-seriously the states seem to take EMS. It’s no secret that government as a whole tends to look at us as a necessary evil, something they have to provide but really don’t give a rat’s ass about. You can tell by now they seem to view us. Among the highlights:

• One (!) state monitors injuries suffered by EMS providers on the job.
• 18 states monitor LODDs.
• 11 monitor EMS crash data.
• 7 states monitor blood-borne pathogen exposure.

I wonder how many states monitor similar data that’s relevant to other branches of healthcare and public safety. I would imagine it’s a lot more than these numbers reflect for EMS.

The message that I get from a lot of the findings is that most states really don’t give a rip about us. We’re expendable ambulance drivers whom they need not be too concerned about because there’s always someone ready to take over for us should we be killed or maimed on the job. Quite frankly these findings deeply concern me. We must seek to change this status quo.

We have to prove that we are essential and that we are more than ambulance drivers.

One other finding really stood out:

EMS professional education is most commonly a certificate and not a degree. Movement should be toward a degree but cost and access to programs are currently limited.

Really, what’s the incentive to have a degree over a certificate and a patch? I have an AAS in Paramedicine and I feel that education is extremely important but when one is looking at degree vs. certificate options, why should they choose the degree path when most EMS agencies don’t care? I get no more pay for having a degree than the medic who only has a certificate. I’m sure that’s the case at the vast majority of EMS agencies.

Aside from personal satisfaction, I fully understand why someone would choose to have a certificate. Until employers make it worth the time to get the extra education this trend will not change.

The National EMS Assessment gives us some good points and great data that we can use to get pointed in a better direction. To me it just helps prove our case. We are essential, we do provide a service that affects everyone in some way and we’re much more than ambulance drivers. The question is: Will anything change because of this data that we have to back us up?

That’s really up to us, isn’t it?