When the movie Level Zero came out last year, I was extremely excited. I think everyone who operates in this medium and in our field can agree that there is a complete and total lacking of positive press, and realistic examples of what we do as a profession. It did not take me long at all to email the Level Zero Link to everyone that I knew, whether they were in the field or not. I loved the viewpoints of those featured in the movie, and thought that they had a lot to say about what we did. Little did I know, but a little more than a year later, I would have a chance to experience the streets featured in Level Zero first hand. I got a call at the beginning of December from a colleague of mine who needed my assistance. There were some computer systems out in Alameda County that needed some tweaking, and some additional education that went with it. I was offered an all expenses paid trip out to ALCO, where I would get to spend 40 hours or there about riding along on the streets of Oakland and its surrounding communities. How could I say no? I had a great experience that week. It was really eye opening. Every truck I got on had a crew that welcomed me, was willing to answer questions about their system, and had plenty of questions about my system and where I came from. I’ll be honest, this trip was more than just a “Help the company” opportunity for me. I walked away with many ideas about system design, system status management, and crew attitude and motivation that I could take back with me to where I worked and improve the quality of my service. I feel like I sound like a broken record sometimes. The words “when I was in California” come out of my mouth more times than I can count. The topic of Level Zero the Movie came up with one of the crews I was with, and they were quick to explain to me the concept of Chronicles of EMS. Could it be? A chance to view more...

Last Month, the Canadian Government took the first step towards what they refer to as an increase in Labor Mobility: they are going to be standardizing the certification, assessment and recertification of Paramedics on a national level.According to the Canadian Government this is being done to make it easier for Paramedics to move throughout the country, and work acrossProvidencelines.Canadaestimates that more than 200,000 of its citizens relocate to a differentProvidenceeach year.These actions will make it easier for Paramedics to move around, and seamlessly transition from job to job. You can read the whole article here: http://news.gc.ca/web/article-eng.do?nid=511429 What was probably looked at by the Canadian population as a small step towards improving the country’s economy, it should be looked at by theEMScommunity as a big move towards unification of our industry. The EMS Leaders and Lawmakers in our country should take a good hard look at what is taking place north of the boarder and take notes.Our community has numbers, in the Public market, the Private market and still in parts of the country in the Volunteer market and uniting those people could be what propelsEMSas a whole to the next level. The things I need to practice medicine in my urban setting might not exactly fit what is needed by a rural Paramedic in the far reaches ofMontana, potentially an hour or more from the care that is needed.So how should a unified National EMS Front work?Well, from a regulatory standpoint, this is how I see it: The National EMS System would be broken up into four levels, National, Regional, State, and System.Providers would be governed by the National, Regional and System levels, and services would be monitored and dictated by the National, Regional, and State levels. 1.Certification, recertification, and core training should be standardized on a national level.The didactic, field and clinical portions of EMT and Paramedic training should be the same inArizonaas it is inMaine.This would, in theory, give every provider the same base education. 2.System qualifications should be determined by the system’s Medical Director.You are, after all, working under their license.They can determine required training needed above and beyond the CEU requirements setup nationally. 3.Protocols should have a set core at...

Hello, and welcome to the first edition ofEMSin the New Decade.I thought I would use this first edition of the Blog to answer two big questions: 1.What is this Blog going to be about? Well, as the title of the Blog indicates, we are going to be talking at great length about EMS in the new decade: the 2010’s.  Sure, I know, the decade doesn’t officially start until 2011, but many of us saw 2000 as a big step, so here we are ten years later. I am going to be looking at and discussing where we are, where we have been, and most importantly, where we are (and should) be going in our future.  I hope to include product reviews, and opinion pieces that will address articles and challenges inEMS, both at the field level, and in the front office and behind the scenes level. Finally, anyone in EMS knows that it is hard to talk about the field without including some good old War Stories.Those will be here too. 2.Who the heck are you? My name is Scott.  I’m 31 years old.At the young age of 15, I realized that EMS was my calling in life.  It was the one thing that I found that felt I was really good at.  I come from a family of Emergency Medical Technicians, and started out as a Cadet on my local First Aid Squad in New Jersey.  From there, I moved up to a larger volunteer service, and finally found myself attending college in Massachusetts pursuing a degree in Emergency Medical Services Management. As part of my degree program, I obtained my Paramedic Certification in the Commonwealth of Massachusettstowards the end of 2000.  This started my career with a large private company that hold the 911 contract for most of the Greater Springfield area. In the nine years since, I’ve worked as a street medic in the city, I’ve been promoted to supervisor, I’ve worked in a smaller 3rd party municipal service part time, I’ve been a teaching assistant, and I’ve even done EMS at a local Theme Park. I take in a lot of what I see around me in the EMS Community,...