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Emergency Medical Services

In emergency situations, life or death is often determined within the first few moments of a crisis. The medical knowledge of first-response personnel and the existence of a reliable emergency medical system can make a critical difference when unexpected illnesses, accidents, or disasters occur.

Training both medical and non-medical personnel to effectively respond to emergencies within an established teaching model is at the core of AIHA's EMS initiative. AIHA's EMS Training Centers-developed jointly with partners-provide educational programs with standardized, reproducible curriculums adaptable to local needs. At such Centers, ambulance drivers, nurses, feldshers, and physicians learn life-saving, pre-hospital emergency medical techniques such as cardiopulmonary resuscitation, intubation, spinal immobilization, and triaging practices that are performed at an accident site or en route to a hospital. Graduates of EMS training courses in turn serve as trainers for other students.

Additional courses teach EMS to others who may be called upon to provide emergency care, such as firefighters, police officers, and even flight attendants. Curricula for in-hospital emergency personnel help integrate the work of first-responders with hospital staff. Many centers have also developed courses that teach first aid to children, miners, sailors, and factory workers.

Disaster Planning and Management
An individual accident is only one of the situations that requires EMS knowledge. Widespread disasters injure large groups of people at once, requiring a coordinated response. Disaster planning and management are important new directions for many EMS Training Centers, where nuclear accident preparedness courses and simulation exercises are being conducted to create standardized responses that incorporate everyone from first-response personnel to upper-level officials.

Learning how to effectively respond to small- and large-scale accidents with timely emergency services saves lives. AIHA partners are working together to ensure the availability of these critical services.