NAEMSP Releases Ambulance Safety Data

[VentMedic]

NAEMSP Releases Ambulance Safety Data
Wednesday, July 1, 2009

http://www.emsresponder.com/features/article.jsp?id=9805&siteSection=25

New research published today in the journal of the National Association of EMS Physicians, Prehospital Emergency Care, finds that 74% of EMS worker deaths are transportation-related, and suggests that these numbers could be reduced if citizens yield to ambulances, and EMS personnel embrace strategies that allow them to remain seated and restrained in the back of the ambulance, among other findings.

Nearly killed when his ambulance was in a rollover in a storm, former EMS worker Matt Deicher of Mosinee, Wisconsin knows the importance of being restrained and underscores the need for equipment to be safety-checked, "We were transporting a patient with hip pain who was going into cardiac arrest, and as I was trying to care for him, we moved from cement to asphalt, our tires slid and we flipped." Matt, who is a quadriplegic because of the crash, believes that it is important that steps are taken to keep his colleagues safe. "People may not realize, how high the risks are for EMS personnel and their patients, and that there are solutions which can be as simple as regular ambulance maintenance, better communication within the ambulance and access to new technologies."