AAOS Fifth Edition Emergency Medical Responder Your First Response in Emergency Care Sample Chapter Meets the New National EMS Education Standards Series Editor: Andrew N. Pollak, MD, FAAOS The Future of EMS Education Has Arrived! Dear Educator, Many educators are trying to sort out what’s really new in the National EMS Education Standards. First, the offi cial names of the As you know, the new National EMS Education Standards were provider levels have changed: approved last year by the National Highway Traffi c Safety Administration. These Standards are part of a larger effort, based Emergency Medical Responder or EMR— on the National EMS Education Agenda for the Future, published formerly First Responder in 2000 at the request of National Association of State EMS Emergency Medical Technician or EMT— Offi cials. The Agenda was a consensus vision of the future of no longer referred to as “Basic” EMS. It intended to promote quality and consistency among all EMS education programs and establish common entry-level Advanced Emergency Medical Technician or AEMT— requirements for the licensure of various levels of EMS providers replaces EMT-Intermediate. throughout the country. Paramedic The National EMS Education Standards document is being used by publishers to develop new instructional materials and should guide EMS educators in designing their programs and in making decisions about the materials to use in their classrooms. New patient assessment terminology is being introduced, although many educators will recognize the terms primary You may have noticed that the Standards are less prescriptive and secondary assessment. Some skills have been added or than the Department of Transportation’s (DOT) National changed, and there is expanded cognitive material at every Standard Curricula that they replace. Instead of specifi c level, such as public health, life span development, cognitive, affective, and psychomotor objectives, the National pathophysiology, communication, medical terminology, and EMS Education Standards identify the depth and breadth of patients with special challenges. content and provide minimal terminal objectives for each EMS provider level. Ultimately, the new National EMS Education Standards allow for: Increased program fl exibility—Educators can now choose to make certain modules in the Standards a prerequisite to their courses, and they may teach the material in whatever order and fashion they choose. Greater creativity in program and material design— Educators have the freedom to be more creative about how they cover content—for example, allowing students to follow a course of independent study for a particular module, rather than having the instructor lecture directly out of the training materials. Better alternative delivery methods—Alternative delivery methods will allow many options—from independent study to online learning resources. Increased ability to respond to changes in medical knowledge—Educators will have a greater ability to adapt their presentations to the latest medical information. Bleeding control and the emphasis on compressions instead of ventilations during CPR are excellent examples of where the National Standard Curricula was less nimble than the new National EMS Education Standards. As new breakthroughs in medicine occur, this knowledge can easily be incorporated into the classroom. Fifth Edition Table of Contents Correlated to the National EMS Education Standards Section 5. Trauma 13. Bleeding, Shock, and Soft-Tissue Injuries Pathophysiology Fifth Edition National EMS Education Standards Shock and Resuscitation Bleeding Section 1. Preparatory Head, Facial, Neck, and Spine Trauma Chest Trauma 1. EMS Systems EMS Systems Abdominal and Genitourinary Trauma Research Soft-Tissue Trauma Public Health Multi-System Trauma Immunology 2. Workforce Safety and Wellness Workforce Safety and Wellness Diseases of the Eyes, Ears, Nose, and Throat Infectious Diseases 14. Injuries to Muscles and Bones Orthopaedic Trauma 3. Medical, Legal, and Ethical Issues Medical/Legal and Ethics Head, Facial, Neck, and Spine Trauma 4. Communication and Documentation Documentation Section 6. Special Patient Populations EMS System Communication Therapeutic Communication 15. Childbirth Obstetrics Medical Terminology Neonatal Care 5. The Human Body Anatomy and Physiology Gynecology Life Span Development Special Considerations in Trauma Section 2. Airway 16. Pediatric Emergencies Pediatrics Patients With Special Challenges 6. Airway Management Airway Management Respiratory Respiration Special Considerations in Trauma Artifi cial Ventilation Anatomy and Physiology Pathophysiology Respiratory 17. Geriatric Emergencies Geriatrics Special Considerations in Trauma 7. Professional Rescuer CPR Shock and Resuscitation Patients With Special Challenges Primary Assessment Anatomy and Physiology Section 7. EMS Operations Pathophysiology 18. Lifting and Moving Patients Workforce Safety and Wellness Section 3: Patient Assessment EMS Operations 8. Patient Assessment Scene Size-Up 19. Transport Operations Principles of Safely Operating a Ground Ambulance Primary Assessment Air Medical History-Taking Secondary Assessment 20. Vehicle Extrication and Special Rescue Vehicle Extrication Reassessment 21. Incident Management Incident Management Section 4. Medical Multiple-Casualty Incidents Hazardous Materials Awareness 9. Medical Emergencies Medical Overview Mass-Casualty Incidents due to Terrorism and Disaster Neurology Abdominal and Gastrointestinal Disorders Endocrine Disorders Cardiovascular Respiratory Genitourinary/Renal 10. Poisoning and Substance Abuse Toxicology Immunology Pharmacology Medication Administration Emergency Medications 11. Behavioral Emergencies Psychiatric Patients With Special Challenges 12. Environmental Emergencies Environmental Emergencies 168 Section 3 Patient Assessment What Steps are the AAOS and J&B Taking to Implement Primary Assessment 4 22 Section 1 Preparatory the National EMS Education Standards? The second part of the patient assessment sequence is the primary assessment . This is sometimes called the Bargaining (“Okay, but . .”). primary patient assessment or the initial patient assess- g Patient Assessment—The Fifth Edition applies the unique Because you work in a stressful environment,Because you the Standards3. are less prescriptive than theThe DOT third stage of thethe last several years, we have been developing technology- ment. The purpose of the primary assessment is to approach of concept reinforcement to patient assessment. must make a conscious effort to prevent andobjectives, reduce we have griefgathered process a team is bargaining of outstanding . Bargaining educators is the act ofbased products and innovative supplementary materials that identify life threats to the patient. These life threats are This critical topic is presented in a single, comprehensive unnecessary stress. You can do this in severalfrom differ- across the countrytrying to to help make develop a deal new to postpone materials death for the and dying.allow student-directed learning and hybrid courses. Now we ent ways: learn to recognize the signs and symptoms of If you encounter a patient or family member who related to problems with the patient’s airway, breath- chapter, ensuring that students understand patient classroom. This consensus approach to content development are taking these tools to the next level for the instructors. ing, and circulation. It is important to identify any stress, adjust your lifestyle to include stress-reducing is in this stage, try to respond with a truthful and assessment as a single, integrated process. This also allows ensures that we publish only the best practices and nationally life-threatening conditions quickly so you can take activities, and learn what services and resources are avail- helpful comment such as, “We are doing everything instructors to teach patient assessment the way that accepted training materials. The Fifth Edition of Emergency Medical Responder: Your First immediate actions to correct these conditions. Notice able to help you. we can and the paramedics will be here in just a few students will actually practice it in the fi eld. Recognizing Response in Emergency Care offers instructors and students that the primary assessment consists of the same steps minutes.” Remember that bargaining is a normal the importance of assessment-based care, medical and In addition to developing gold standard student textbooks, we comprehensive coverage of every competency statement in that you take when you are beginning to perform car- part of the grief process. trauma chapters revisit the patient assessment process, are building a wide range of teaching and learning tools that the National EMS Education Standards in an engaging and diopulmonary resuscitation (CPR). SafetySafety 4. Depression (“Heavy-hearted”). The fourth stage of The fi rst step of the primary assessment is to form a explaining how the process should be used with different will enable instructors to achieve one of the goals of the new accessible format. the grief process is depression . Depression is often general impression of the patient. You can do this as you kinds of emergencies. Do not underestimate the effect that stress can haveStandards: on greater individual creativity in course design. For you. As a fi re fi ghter, EMS provider, or law enforcement characterized by sadness or despair. A person who approach the patient. The second step of the primary offi cer, you may see more suffering in a year than many is unusually