EMS Annual Report 2017 Home > Improving Our Skills
Improving Our Skills
Through continuing education our medics learn and are challenged to
improve upon their skills to ensure we are providing high quality
services that are meaningful to our patients and the community we serve.
The continuing education office is primarily responsible for the
planning, scheduling, and delivery of continuing education as it
pertains to medical CE, human resource CE, Special Operations CE, and
operational CE (i.e. blood draw services at the jail, policy updates,
infection control just to name a few). The continuing education office
also manages the department’s CPR program and national standards program
as well as overseeing the administrative components of managing our
annual wellness program. Additional responsibilities include the
oversight of the national registry recertification process and employee
reintegration processes when employees return from extended absence from
providing patient care such as in the case of FMLA, military leave,
OJI, etc.
Accomplishments
- Upgraded the EMS Continuing Education platform to a 4K broadcast system which provides high definition images in large screen format allowing us to move away from our much older analog projection system that was difficult to see in any setting that was not in a dark room. Feedback from the employees has been overwhelmingly positive and has enhanced group learning as we studied medical procedures and anatomy in high definition.
- Installed a high definition recording system that allows remote viewers to have the same educational experience. We are moving towards adding a live streaming virtual classroom capability to our education distribution.
- Acquired three (3) advanced airway manikins for continuing education purposes which can produce swollen airways, swollen tongues and closed airways. This is unlike any other airway equipment we have owned before. We were also able to add an electronically controlled birthing manikin as well. We can simulate complex birthing conditions and real world simulations to better serve this less common patient population.
- Added iSimulate. This program allows students to use simulated cardiac monitors in new and advanced ways that have never been possible before. We can create, with ease, various heart and breathing conditions that are typical in real life but difficult to simulate in the classroom. This has greatly enhanced our ability to train our employees. The feedback from field medics has been fantastic.
Continuing Education Hours completed by Uniform Staff by Topic
Our continuing education (CE) efforts consist of multiple delivery models. Online education hosted on two distinct learning management software platforms provide a way for employees to access educational programs easily from work, home, or tablet/smart-technology devices. The vendors offer additional leaning opportunities that are not part of our ongoing CE coursework. There are also dash-boarding capabilities that will allow our staff to track their required CE for State and National certification, as well as keep track of all required departmental training to include required pre-course work, tests, and completion dates.
The CE section utilizes a Facebook page that provides staff who follow the page with new information regarding CE coursework, reminders for due dates as well as any outside training opportunities that may be available.
In person learning occurs at least 3 times a year and includes a variety of lectures and hands-on workshops. Education is a collaborative effort between the Continuing Education section and the Office of the Medical Director and utilizes information collected from team members’ continued involvement in the department’s performance improvement workgroup as well as regional (CAFCA and CATRAC) committees.