Question

EMS providers play an extremely important role in public health emergency preparedness and response. Discuss if you believe an EMS agency should have immediate access to guidance and information that will assist in rapidly establishing priorities and undertaking necessary actions during the response to a public health emergency. Why, or why not? 200 words

Answer 1

Emergency medical service providers are extremely important part of health care system. They are first line workers during emergency in health system. They've got optimum training and experience to manage emergency at the ground level and can manage patient till they take patient into the healthcare center. This team includes medical and paramedical professionals which work in conjecture for the betterment of patient. I believe, they should have access to guidance and information about prioritising and taking necessary steps for the good of patient during emergency situations, but before that, they should be adequately trained for using the information during emergency. EMS professionals already know how to categorise patient in emergency through triage system. Patients who are ambulatory and having superficial or not so life threatening injuries are tagged green. Patients who needs attention not on urgent basis but could land up in urgerncy are tagged as yellow. And patients who are unambulatory and need immediate health care attention are tagged red and managed firstly. These red tagged patients are managed temporarily by these EMS professionals and sent to healthcare center on priority for further management. If EMS providers are trained for latest guidelines and information about how to manage emergency situations more efficiently, there will be massive impact of it on morbidity and mortality rates. If patient who needs immediate attention are attended in time, it will make huge impact on his prognosis. Proper screening during public health emergencies like epidemics, pandemics will also reduce the burden on healthcare system and they could give their best possible treatment. Screening will also help in detecting cases early and this could also stop propagation of public health problem. If the EMS agencies could manage some elementary cases during emergency, this will definitely reduce burden on healthcare professionals working in health care center. This is how newly trained and informed EMS professionals can play pivotal role in managing health care emergencies.