Attention PA providers...

[MrBird]

I did a search for this and didn't see anything. If my poor searching skills failed me please go easy on the new guy.

Seems like you guys may be brought kicking and screaming into the 20th century. Are there really EMS services that don't have a medical director???? :shock:

Scranton Times Article

[MrBird]

Ok...Help a n00b out. Why aren't the HTML tags working? Is this a firefox thing?

[Eydawn]

Use the little world with a chain link icon... it tends to work better.

Wendy

CO EMT-B

[MrBird]

Yeah. Tried that. Oh well. Sorry, guys. You'll just have to cut and paste for now until I figure out what I'm doing wrong.

[JPINFV]

I did a search for this and didn't see anything. If my poor searching skills failed me please go easy on the new guy.

Seems like you guys may be brought kicking and screaming into the 20th century. Are there really EMS services that don't have a medical director???? :shock:

Scranton Times Article

Did you check the "Disable BBCode in this post" box?

[MrBird]

It asks to allow BBcode and I clicked yes. Along with HTML. Hmmm. Did it really show up for you with the link properly displayed and not the link with the tags visible on either side?

[Dustdevil]

It asks to allow BBcode and I clicked yes. Along with HTML. Hmmm. Did it really show up for you with the link properly displayed and not the link with the tags visible on either side?

This just happens occasionally here, and nobody can seem to figure out why. It'll work next time. There's no rhyme or reason to it.

Anyhow, yes, there are some renegade services out there who either out of negligence, ignorance, or simply being cheap, run a service without a medical director. All too often, some wanker somehow manages to scrape up the money to buy a used ambulance or two, and then declare himself "EMS", without knowing the first thing about what is actually required to do it. To them, it's no more complicated than being a taxi driver with a first aid kit. As recently as just a couple of years ago, there was one such wanker down in the Houston area. This guy participated in a statewide EMS forum, and proudly boasted about all of the aspects of his operation, wholly confident that he was teh aw3some, and that everyone else -- including the state EMS division -- would agree. He said he didn't need a medical director, since he could just get orders from any receiving physician. So obviously, there are definitely such idiots out there. They think that being an EMS service is really nothing more than being an EMT with a truck.

I see this legislation as a definite plus. It reminds me of the new NR requirement that all registrants graduate from a Nationally Accredited medic school. Not only does it raise the educational bar, but it weeds out a lot of fly-by-night wankers who lack the serious commitment to professionalism necessary to provide the public with competent care.

[Don1977]

Every service in PA that I know of has a Medical director.

[strippel]

All ALS services are required to have a medical director.

BLS are supposed to, especially if they have AEDs (which they should), or give patient assisted meds, and Epi-pen

[CBEMT]

All the services in my state have a medical director, though they are not, technically, required to have one IIRC.

With two exceptions that I know of, the function of a medical director in this area is to provide a signature for medication and equipment supply companies to keep on file.