“What changes do you think are on the horizon for EMS?”
Nancy Perry @NancyEPerry Editorial Director at EMS World Magazine posed this question on twitter which got me really thinking, where WILL EMS be in less than eight years?
I know where my agency, region, and state were eight years ago when I first got started in EMS. So the possibility of where these may be in another eight years is intriguing and exciting. Embracing changes of newer technology and progressive ALS and BLS protocols we are further ahead then I could have imagined as a wet tag. Things in New York state are actually looking bright in some areas of EMS and the ground work seems to be taking hold but what do I hope is on the horizon?
Standardization! New York state is taking the steps by embracing National Education standards and with implementing National Register recognized certification levels and abilities. That along with talks of implementing statewide ALS protocol will go along way to create uniformity. This to me is one of our largest obstacles to overcome not necessarily on a state level but on a federal level. My hope for EMS in 2020 is that of a national standard, one where the most cutting edge skills and ground breaking science are used throughout the country not just sporadically in progressive pockets. In order to get there we have a lot of work to do though.
The reality? I think we still will be placing the building blocks for our future in the next eight years. We will still have a sharply divided industry on so many facets. We will still have a difference of opinion as to what an appropriate response time is and how to achieve it. Still have the heated debate as to Fire vs Private vs 3rd party provider services and what works best. We will still try to improve cardiac survival rates to even better statistics. But just maybe there will be even more optimism for where we are standing.
Where do you think we will be? Where would you hope that we are?
