Campus EMS assessment instrument

[Mark Milliron <mem9@psu.edu>]

As a Board member of the National Collegiate EMS Foundation, we are
often asked to assist groups on campuses with advice on approaching
school administrators on starting up or improving their campus EMS
system.  I thought this might be of interest to the subscribers of this
list as well.

Following is a campus EMS assessment instrument that should help you
with the type of concerns that are important to determining what type of
an EMS system you may need, and what level of EMS may be needed (BLS vs.
ALS, QRS, vs. xport).

Part of the job when approaching administrators, whether asking to start
up, expand, or presenting the annual budget request, is to educate them
(the administrators)!  You can't just answer their questions because,
unless they have an EMS management background, they aren't going to know
what questions to ask!

The instrument is subjective ... you can't just count up the yes and
nos.  You will need to answer the questions and then answer the, "so
what?"

This is an assessment of three things:
1. An assessment of EMS needs on campus -- not necessarily an assessment
of your specific campus EMS service, but an assessment of the overall
emergency response system including the resources that may be provided
by campus security, police, fire, and local community emergency response
services.  Think about the questions from a macro-EMS perspective.
Where the instrument asks about the first arriving first responders, for
example, consider that may not be EMS but police who are trained as FRs
or EMTs and have a jump kit in the trunk of the cruiser ... EMS
personnel are not necessarily the first to arrive.

2.  An assessment of daily campus activity.  What is going on that makes
campus different from the non-campus community that could necessitate
its own EMS?

3.  An assessment of special events (sports, concerts, other organized
activities) on campus.  Remember, the size of an event does not
necessarily determine EMS need.  For example, you will see more blood at
a rugby match with less than 50 people in attendance than at graduation
with 5000 people attending.  On the other hand, put those 5000 in an
inaccessible stadium in the middle of the afternoon with 95 degree temp
and high humidity and you have a different story.

The results of a campus EMS assessment may tell you several things.  You
may find that your campus is already well covered.  Or you may find that
there are some potentials areas for improvement.  Starting with nothing
and trying to jump into a full ALS transport service sounds exciting,
but may not be realistic or needed.  Consider the areas that actually
need to be improved.  Then you have a starting point from which to
develop or improve an EMS system to serve campus.

I will try to get this posted on the NCEMSF web site in the future for
reference.
--
Mark Milliron, M.P.A., M.S.
----------------------------------------------------------------
The Pennsylvania State University
Office of Emergency Medical Services
http://www.psu.edu/dept/ems/                          mem9@psu.edu

Treasurer, National Collegiate EMS Foundation Board of Directors
NCEMSF....developing leaders in the industry
http://www.ncemsf.org/                          treasurer@ncemsf.org
----------------------------------------------------------------

The following instrument was developed by David J. Lindstrom, Associate
Director for Administrative Services, Penn State University Health
Services.  c-1998 The Pennsylvania State University.

Campus EMS Assessment

1.  Does your campus and surrounding area have 9-1-1 as the only
emergency number to call for all emergencies?

2.  How long does it take for the first responding unit to arrive at the
scene of medical emergencies on your campus?

3.  What is the training level of the first responder who arrives at the
scene of medical emergencies on your campus?

4.  Is the minimum level of emergency care training required for the
police responding to emergencies on your campus at least equivalent to
the National Highway Traffic Safety Administration’s First Responder
training program?

5.  What it the minimum required training level of the first responding
EMS personnel to arrive at the scene of medical emergencies on your
campus?

6.  How long does it take for an EMS transport unit to arrive at the
scene of medical emergencies on campus?  (Is there a difference from day
to night, mid week to weekends, or when classes are in session as
compared to academic breaks?)

7.  What is the minimum level of medical training required for the
rescue personnel in your community who will respond to rescue calls on
campus?

8.  Do the EMS units responding to your campus respond from their
station within two minutes of their receipt of a request for emergency
service?

9.  Does your campus have citizen CPR programs broadly available on at
least a monthly basis?

10.  Are all clinical personnel in your health service currently
certified in CPR, and if advanced life support services are available on
campus, are all clinical staff trained in advanced cardiac life support
(ACLS)?

11.  Is your local EMS organization able to assure that prehospital
advanced life support personnel (at a minimum, these people must be
paramedics with a cardiac monitor-defibrillator) can arrive at the scene
of an emergency within 8 minutes of a call for help?

12.  On average, does a trauma victim arrive at an accredited trauma
center, within 30 to 60 minutes?

Campus Risk Assessment
Emergency Medical Services and Special Events

I.  Daily Campus Life

Every day the population of any given college or university will
experience its share of medical emergencies.  The wide array of events
and activities in every campus community can result in emergencies with
serious injury to students, staff and visitors.  It is important that
college health and campus safety personnel are aware of the risks
affecting their community, so they might attempt to eliminate or reduce
these risks.  At the very least, it is essential that emergency plans be
developed to ensure the necessary resources are in place to respond to
emergency medical needs.  The basic components of this campus risk
assessment and emergency plan are:

A.  What high-risk activities occur each day on your campus?

B.  How many people are on campus each day?

C.  How many students live in residence halls on campus?

D.  Are there any courses taught which create unusual risks?

E.  Are there any unusual research or structures that pose special
danger?

F.  Is there a culture of alcohol or drug abuse affecting the campus
community?

G.  What can you learn from the history of accidents and illness on your
campus?

H.  Do large crowds, special populations, or high-risk crowds gather
form campus events?

I.  Do student athletes participate in any high-risk sports?

J.  Do the traffic patterns of pedestrians, vehicles, and bicycles
create a dangerous environment?

K.  Are there any topographic or seasonal considerations that create
risk?

L.  What is your experience with the reliability and quality of the
responding EMS system?

II.  Special Events

Each event must be evaluated for the unique circumstances affecting the
participants and spectators.  Some events with thousands of spectators
may last for hours and be an injury and illness free event.  Conversely,
a small, brief event may result in circumstances that cause multiple
injuries or an unforeseen number of acute illnesses in the population of
spectators or participants.  By reviewing all known factors about a
given event, and combining that information with your general knowledge
of the campus EMS system, it is possible to make some assessment of the
resources needed at a specific event.  After the event, it is important
to review expectations, plans, and actual experience and use this
information to improve planning for future events.  When evaluating
plans for an event on your campus, consider the following questions:

A.  What is the nature of the event?

B.  How many spectators and participants will attend?

C.  What historical information do you have regarding this event or
events of this type?

D.  What type of spectators are likely to attend this event and do they
have any unusual characteristics that may increase the risk of illness
or injury?

E.  What are the characteristics of the participants of this event?

F.  Are there any extremes of temperature or humidity that could affect
people attending the event?

G.  What time of day or night is the event, and how will this affect
risk and available resources?

H.  What is the duration of the event?

I.  What is the location of the event and what impact will it have?

J.  What facilities are available at or near the site of the event to be
used as a place to treat potential patients?

K.  If on-site facilities are needed, do these facilities have adequate
temperature control, lighting, and other utilities?

L.  What type of communication will be needed by the staff working the
event to communicate between themselves, to other health and safety
personnel, and to the event participants if required?

M.  Do any of the characteristics of the event indicate that the normal
EMS system will not be able to respond to the potential volume of
patients, or will be restricted in their access to a patient at the
event?

N.  What staff and equipment are available or needed at the event?

O.  What is the turnaround time for emergency units transporting
patients from the event to the hospital, and back to the event site?

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