The Non Existence of EMS

[explenture]

The media in our area will report that police department x, fire department y, the state police, etc. were on an accident scene. They will say patients were transferred to a given hospital. If the helicopter is used they get a mention. Rarely does the responding ems service get mentioned. As if EMS does not exist and patients get to hospitals by magic.

Is his beneficial to EMS? Wouldn't at least a mention be good? Should EMS agencies push for inclusion in these stories? Where I used to work it was dough nuts for picture in the paper and pizza for being on TV. Why are these considered bad things? Shouldn't we want to take credit for our work?

[spenac]

Often I think they ignore us because all we can say is I can not say anything because of patient privacy rights. Not very catchy for the news. Cops and fire get to say a lot even though often wrong and helicopters make it seem much more serious even if the crew says nothing. Wish we could be glory gory hogs and tell news reporters how we stuffed the patients brain back in and other bull so we could get in the news as heros. But sadly with the rules we can only get news because of the zeros that do wrong.

[VentMedic]

In Florida we don't worry about that because EMS is all about the Fire Department who also usually owns the helicopter. Occasionally it may even be one of our communities featured in the photos that are still Public Safety so you have LEO, FF and EMT-P all in one person. Also in Florida, you may not be expected to be a Paramedic for a "career" if you are with the FD. You may be rotated to an engine after 2 - 3 years and not have to work a rescue ambulance again.

If you are with a private ambulance service that is also responding with the FD, please try not to block the photo op for the expensive fire department equipment so the tax payers know where their money is.

So, for some areas, the boundaries are blurred and priorities are different.

[Scaramedic]

For those that don't know my minor in college was Journalism and I used to work in the Newsroom of a major daily fish wrapper.

I once had a talk with a reporter who used the term ambulance driver in a story. I tried to explain to her that we are not just drivers and talked about the interventions and education we bring to the table. She stated but you do drive an ambulance so you are an ambulance driver. I asked her if she would like to be known as a typist since a large part of her job is typing. She of course did not appreciate that but I hope I got a point across.

What it comes down to is ignorance. Fire and PD have centuries of PR and history behind them. We on the other hand have been around for less than half a century. I would guess that 90% of the public have no idea what we do. Think of how many times in TV or movies have you seen crews throw the patient in the back and both crew members jump up front and drive off L&S.

As has been said about a thousand times until we are seen as a profession and a separate entity we will always be lumped in with Fire. My greatest hope for the future is that as funds tighten more and more FD's realize that EMS is a money pit and drop it. That way in the future we can become a true separate entity and are thought of as Medical Professionals not just a branch of a blue collar city department. In my opinion we have as much in common with Fire as we do with garbage collection. :wink:

[Mateo_1387]

I think that is a great point by the OP. In an EMS Management class I took a few semesters ago we discussed dealing with the press. From everything I read in the class it is best to have the press invited to events of the EMS department. When new treatment are initiated, programs are started, issues that are important, or anything you can offer the press. When you invite them into your area and get a good repoire they will hopefully give your department a positive image. We were taught to treat the press well and get them on your good side so they do not give your agency a negative image.

[jmp6753]

Does your EMS agency have a PIO (Public Information Officer)? If not, I would suggest getting (or assigning) one. Have that person get involved on major incidents and show up on-scene to give the EMS side of big picture. Even if they dont respond to the scene on every call, they can issue press releases to the TV and radio stations and the daily fish wrapper. It should take about 10 minutes to set up a group fax on the machine. Also get this person to promote events such as EMS week and signficant events in your area. Put your selves out there and let them know you are available to feed them information. They will eat it up.

Dont expect the press to come to you, they are like the rest of us. They want their work done with as little effort expended. If they dont have the info, they will be more than glad to make it up.

[triemal04]

What it comes down to is ignorance. Fire and PD have centuries of PR and history behind them. We on the other hand have been around for less than half a century. I would guess that 90% of the public have no idea what we do. Think of how many times in TV or movies have you seen crews throw the patient in the back and both crew members jump up front and drive off L&S.

That is the part to remember; not only is EMS very new when compared to other emergency services and health careers, but there is nobody lobbying on our behalf and educating the public, and rarely, if ever, does a televisions show give an accurate portrayl of what actually happens in an ambulance. (If you don't think that's important then you haven't been paying attention to the average person for the last couple of years) That needs to change in a hurry.

Starting on a local scale, like someone said, having a dedicated PIO would be great. Anytime there is any type of major incident, or something that sounds like it might make the news, put out a press release. There is a lot of info that can be given that doesn't violate the pt's privacy or HIPAA; number of pt's seen, number transported, general outline of their injuries, emergent/nonemergent transport, number of ambulances that responded, number of personnel and their certification level that responded, hell, even what procedures were performed might raise some interest.

Anytime a drill is conducted, invite the local media. And not just for large scale drills either; get them involved in the normal training so that they start to see (and hopefully report) and what really get's done in EMS. If you train multiple new hires at once offer to let them observe their training, if you do any sort of promotional ceremonies invite them to that too. If you run any kind of public education, call the media, even if only to give them an overview of what was done.

Start doing this, and start if now. Honestly, if every service was willing to do this, do you really think that the public perception and knowledge of EMS would be as low as it is now?

As has been said about a thousand times until we are seen as a profession and a separate entity we will always be lumped in with Fire. My greatest hope for the future is that as funds tighten more and more FD's realize that EMS is a money pit and drop it.

That's an interesting theory. EMS is a loser as far as revenues go for most fire departments and with medicare it's only going to get worse. Do you really think it'll get bad enough to cause any to stop transporting? And if that happens, who will step in to fill them vacumn? Logically it would be a private for profit service, since a city/county run third service would have the same financial difficulties.

[VentMedic]

I agree if you want to put out accurate information about who and what you are you should have a Public information system in place.

News teams don't know all the correct titles of every one on scene. Half the time we can not assume who is on scene with the many different credentials and possibilities of various professionals on an ambulance. Do you want news people to interrupt patient care to find out who you are? Again, in some areas you are recognized by who you work for like the FD and not your specific titles. Using the term ambulance driver might seem to be the most benign if they see you behind the wheel of an ambulance. If they use the term EMT and heaven forbid you are a Paramedic, that could be scandalous. Likewise for using the term Paramedic and you are an EMT. Of course, that doesn't begin to cover the other 46 different titles you could be called.

quote by Scaramedic

I would guess that 90% of the public have no idea what we do. Think of how many times in TV or movies have you seen crews throw the patient in the back and both crew members jump up front and drive off L&S.

You honestly don't give the public much credit so why should they give you much thought? The public is bombarded with TV shows and Medic Mill commercials that enable them to get a good idea of what EMS is a about. Even the old show EMERGENCY hinted that Paramedics could at least start IVs and that was in the 1970s. We've also got Paramedic characters on shows that are not "in your face" EMS but still get the point across about what they do. What about the shows that recreated a dramatic rescue with EMS providers and then had a happy reunion with their Paramedic life savers? Rarely if ever in those shows were the countless other health professionals ever mentioned including the nurses and surgeons. Which, if it had not been for a whole team effort, the paramedic may not have had that "save" to their credit.

Most people in EMS have no idea what many if any of the other healthcare professions actually do along with their correct titles even if you see these professionals every day in the ED. How often do EMS providers bash ALL NURSES in general without taking into consideration the extensive education and professionalism of ICU and the many specialty care RNs?

News teams are also more cautious about printing blood and horrific photos from accidents. So are the EMS magazines that used to run endless photos in their magazines from amateur EMS photographers. This however does not stop EMS from getting recognition. If you notice on almost every EMS forum website there is a news feed that is continuously picking up stories from newspapers around the world. Yes, it picks up both the good and the back but there are still some really good articles that are being printed in some papers.

If you believe that EMS is picked on by bad stories being printed, you should visit the forum websites of other professionals for their news links. Everyone gets a piece of the limelight at sometime for both the good and the bad.

Often the ones that complain about not getting enough attention in the media are also easy to spot in the ED or trauma room. These are the EMTs and Paramedics who sulk when the doctors and nurses don't take time out from working on the patient to chit chat about what a great job they did and give a hand shake or a slap on the back. Maybe doctors and nurses just have patient care as a higher priority. They also may not get recognized in the same news article as FD and PD for what they will do to save that patient's life. Of course when Nurses and other allied health professionals feel the need to inform the public about who and what they are, they have strong national organizations that can run a few promotional ads and articles. The FD doesn't hesitate to promote itself in a wide variety of ways.

If you are truly a healthcare professional, somewhere in your education you should have been told you may not always be recognized for the work you do. You will have to find satisfaction in knowing that you gave good patient care. This goes for the thousands of health care professionals who also have important roles in patient care even if they are not always visible on the street in a nice uniform with a big truck.

[JakeEMTP]

If you are truly a healthcare professional, somewhere in your education you should have been told you may not always be recognized for the work you do. You will have to find satisfaction in knowing that you gave good patient care. This goes for the thousands of health care professionals who also have important roles in patient care even if they are not always visible on the street in a nice uniform with a big truck.

I like this!

While it would be nice to have the news media give us a little bigger piece of the pie, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Personally, I get more satisfaction of shaking my partners hand a saying " Good job".

I agree when there is a news piece, the camera's always seem to find the Fire Chief or the Police Chief. Usually if an incident is big enough to warrant this kind of representation from the FD and PD respectively, we should be far to busy doing what we do best to chat to the reporter. We have a EMS co-ordinator whose job it is is to deal with the media among others. I would hope he could manage to steal some of the thunder but it doesn't really bother me one way or the other.

Anyway, if a scene is larger enough that the FD Chief, PD Chief and for lack of a better term because I'm tired, EMS Chief are all at the same scene, shouldn't there be an Information Officer as per NIMS?

[triemal04]

I like this!

While it would be nice to have the news media give us a little bigger piece of the pie, I wouldn't lose any sleep over it. Personally, I get more satisfaction of shaking my partners hand a saying " Good job".

So you don't want the public to be informed about what EMS does, how it operates, when it operates and so on? Does that mean that you're ok with the lack of understanding that the average person has about EMS right now?

One way to change things is to educate the public about EMS, and one way to do that is to have the media get things right and start mentioning EMS agencies at major/minor incidents that get reported on.

If you don't want that to happen...then don't complain when fire departments are the only ones that get mentioned in the news, and don't complain about how fire departments get more funding, respect, whatever compared to strictly EMS services.