USFA Proposes Training In CPR Via Satellite TV
DEPARTMENTS
EMS Operations
Within the next several months—if not sooner—the future of many federal agencies will be decided by the new presidential team. Some may increase in stature while others may fall by the wayside.
At this writing, the fate of the United States Fire Administration and its parent organization, the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA), has yet to be resolved.
President Reagan is reportedly in favor of less governmental control, favoring the return of much authority to the states and municipalities. The fire administration will come under close examination even though it is not a regulatory agency. It has repeatedly stated that fire is a local problem and that the fire administration’s major role is that of advising and making programs available to fire departments if they wish to avail themselves of expertise developed elsewhere.
Judging from recent power moves, EMS has become a very sexy issue. The Department of Transportation is exploring the possibility of establishing a third uniformed service for EMS and there is a proposal to create a health resources manager within Civil Defense. A calloused observer might judge these moves as one method of enforcing the need for existence within the various governmental bodies.
USFA involvement: On the other hand, the fire administration’s entrance into the EMS field began the day Gordon Vickery, USFA administrator, was sworn into office over two years ago. It was his first announced priority and unlike other Johnnycome-latelies, his is the only federal agency making definite progress to assist the fire service in upgrading its capabilities.
The bottom line of any program is its tangible results and on this measuring scale, the fire administration is miles ahead of any other federal effort.
Vickery’s EMS program now has five professionals and a modest supporting staff and while it may have a little more Seattle Fire Department flavor than some would deem necessary, there’s no disputing that his EMS team is energetic, imaginative and productive.
Many of the current programs are well known in the fire service EMS community—the EMS Resource Bulletin, the EMS Resource Exchange Center, the work being done in developing a hazardous medical management handbook with the Army Surgeon General’s Office, the EMS management workshops, the EMS level of service study, etc. However, the fire administration has two more on the drawing board, due out this spring or early summer, which promise to be every bit as worthwhile and exciting as those presently in use.
TV use for CPR training: First there is the use of mass media in CPR training. The fire administration, in conjunction with the American Heart Association and the Public Service Satellite Consortium, proposes to provide CPR training through television. This was attempted in two California cities last year—Santa Monica and Los Angeles— and based on their experiences the fire administration plans to expand this concept into 15 pilot cities.
Basically, the proposal is to streamline the training from the normal three-hour period to two hours, attracting a large audience at one time in some central location—university setting, large motel meeting rooms, convention centers, etc.
The cities under consideration include San Francisco, Omaha, Dallas, Miami, Washington, Seattle, Santa Monica, Denver, Kalamazoo, Phoenix, Salt Lake City, Oklahoma City, Birmingham, Los Angeles, and Albany, N.Y.
In the California cities, the program was presented in five-minute segments, five nights in a row during the evening news. While they attracted a viewing audience of over three million, those who completed the certification totaled only 1200.
Local input: The fire administration’s proposal is to start with an introduction from the satellite transmitting center, Denver, then cut away to the local city for five minutes for regional flavor, then back to a halfhour video CPR instructional section, then to a question and answer period. The second hour will be devoted to hands-on training in the central location with the training provided by local fire department and Heart Association instructors to obtain certification.
The USFA hope is to certify 7500 to 15,000 citizens in one night at a cost as low as $10,000. If everything goes according to schedule, the first effort will be in one of the first two weeks in April.
In addition, a large number of hospitals have shown interest in this video presentation as a means of supplying refresher courses to their staff—perhaps on a quarterly basis.
EMS attrition study: The second is a study of EMS attrition—whether by promotion, disability, dismissals, or just a wish to return to the combat forces.
As most fire departments estimate the cost of training each paramedic at around $5000, the reasons behind attrition takes on increased significance. If there is some way this attrition can be slowed or halted, this study would prove to be very valuable.
The study is centered around departments that have had programs in existence from six-to-eight and eight-to-ten or more years—a total of 20 cities. It’s divided into two parts: natural attrition (retirement, disability, promotional, etc.) and true attrition (those who resigned when transferred to a paramedic unit or demanded reassignment to fire fighting units).
Five cities, ranging in population from 21,000 to 1.2 million, have been studied. While the figures are certainly not all inclusive, they show the natural attrition rate at an average of 45 percent and the true attrition at 13.4 percent.
The fire administration looks at the final results of this study as a management tool for fire departments providing EMS.
Finally, this column is devoted to exploring many of the solutions and problems confronting fire service EMS programs. If you have a problem or a possible solution you would like to share with the rest of the nat ion, contact Fire Engineering or this writer.
Fire Engineering’s address is 666 Fifth Ave., New York, N.Y. 10103. This writer can be contacted at 6821 153rd N.E., Redmond, Wash. 98052 or by calling 206-8817726.
