At the September meeting, the Medical Control Review Committee moved to modify the Prehospital Standard Patient Treatment Protocols as indicated in the letter below.  The Council was able to get the updates to the printer before the field guides went to press, therefore the field guides will not need to be updated once they are printed and distributed to regional agencies.

The complete protocol document, found exclusively on the protocol page, has been updated with the changes.

Improving System Quality

Regional performance improvement project strives to better EMS system

Since the beginning of the year, two subcommittees of the MCRC, the General and Trauma Performance Improvement (PI) committees, have been working to develop regional performance improvement plans, one for trauma and the other for general performance improvement.  The objectives of the committees are to conduct regional QA and encourage local agency medical incident reviews; collect patient care statistics to evaluate system effectiveness and identify trends; and provide constructive feedback on medical quality improvement to all EMS professionals within the CSEMS Council region.  Starting October 1, 2008, the Council will implement a new way to collect data on the four types of calls the committees are reviewing.  There will be PI drop boxes in each emergency department in the region.  We are asking EMS providers to complete a card and place in the box any time a call is run that meets the criteria listed in the box above.  There are other mechanisms to report the data that are outlined on the PI page.

Performance Improvement Page

Prep for winter with Super CE

November Super CE in Harrisonburg

Hypothermia, cold-related injuries, splinting broken bones due to slips and falls on ice and cold water submersion are a few of the topics that will be covered at the November installment of the Council's Super CE sessions.  The final Super CE of the year will be held on November 1, 2008 at the Harrisonburg Rescue Squad in Harrisonburg, VA.  The program will offer ten hours of BLS and ALS continuing education. The year-long program will meet the Category 1 CE requirements for both BLS and ALS providers.

October Super CE Announced

Buena Vista Fire Dept. Hosting Session

The Central Shenandoah EMS Council presents the October installment of the 2008 Super CE sessions.  On October 18, 2008, the Council will sponsor the day-long "Super CE" program at the Buena Vista Fire Department in Buena Vista, VA. The program will offer ten hours of both BLS and ALS continuing education. This Super CE session is the fifth of six sessions that are being offered during the course of the year. The year-long program will meet the Category 1 CE requirements for both BLS and ALS providers.  The last Super CE session will be at the Harrisonburg Rescue Squad on November 1.