Pinellas County (Fla.) EMS Implements Truly Effective Quality Improvement

Pinellas County (Fla.) EMS implements an effective QI process Photo James Zabon/courtesy RedFlash Group Has your quality improvement function actually made anything better? The honest answer for many EMS systems is, "No." For those that can say yes, better documentation is often cited as their evidence—not the kind of improvement that inspires thank you letters and cookies from grateful patients. The EMS system in Pinellas County, Fla., is one that's made measurable clinical improvements to the care that's provided to their patients and their community. Its success can be credited to deep collaboration between more than 1,800 frontline EMTs and paramedics working in 19 different organizations across this western Florida coastal community: 18 municipal fire departments providing ALS first response and Sunstar Paramedics, the contracted ALS ambulance service. These agencies, along with the Pinellas County EMS and Fire Administration and the EMS medical director, work together in a unique way that delivers real benefit to patients. Getting nearly 2,000 EMS clinicians on the same page about providing consistent, high-quality care is remarkable and doesn't happen by accident. Since 2008, Pinellas County EMS providers had been using electronic patient care reports (PCRs) and manually tracking performance indicators. A few years later, they looked for ways to automate and improve the system. In 2014, the clinical leaders from each of the 19 organizations, and Angus J...
Source: JEMS Administration and Leadership - Category: Emergency Medicine Authors: Tags: Documentation & Patient Care Reporting Administration and Leadership Source Type: news