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The EMS Take: Spring 2021
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The EMS Take with Paul Patrick
FirstNet connects EMS telehealth services
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The pandemic spurred a shift in EMS operations that will likely last far into the future. One of the biggest changes EMS has seen is the pivot to telehealth. FirstNet – public safety’s network – plays an important role in connecting EMS to telehealth services.
EMS adapts to the pandemic with telehealth
Telehealth is the blanket term for health care services delivered using technologies such as live video conferencing, mobile health apps, electronic transmission of health data, and remote patient monitoring. Because the most routine calls could now involve a COVID-19 case, telehealth has become an even more important part of the EMS toolkit.
My EMS experience
I have spent over 30 years in emergency medical services in rural Utah and know what it’s like to be a first responder. I am passionate about telehealth because of the benefits it offers paramedics and EMTs.
Looking back on my EMS experiences, I remember pediatric patients flown to far-away pediatric hospitals, while their parents drove hours in the car, only to arrive to find their child was already examined and discharged. A telehealth consultation would have saved everyone time, money, and anguish.
I see so many opportunities for telehealth to make a difference in patient care. Yet historically telehealth has faced challenges in being fully implemented into emergency care. The current pandemic has sped up innovation to overcome those challenges.
Breaking barriers with FirstNet
FirstNet is also helping to break barriers in implementing telehealth services. FirstNet has unique capabilities to support telehealth because of the speed, reliability, and security of the network. Public safety broadband is revolutionizing patient care by bringing the expertise of the hospital directly to an ambulance, into a patient’s home, and especially across vast rural areas.
FirstNet’s coverage continues to expand throughout the country, with AT&T recently stating it has completed over 90% of the initial Band 14 buildout.* With expanded coverage plus mobile cell sites in the FirstNet deployables fleet, the reach of FirstNet is growing, connecting first responders – in dense urban areas, rural communities, and marine environments.
Benefits of telehealth
The benefits of telehealth can include:
- Provide safer practices to prevent COVID-19 exposure by helping to determine a patient’s needs in advance and limit how long EMS personnel are exposed to the patient.
- Reduce disparities in trauma care for rural communities by extending specialist services to rural patients who often face treatment delays due to the physical distance from in-person specialty services.
- Decrease non-emergency ambulance transports through telehealth triage that helps other resources address non-emergency calls, allowing EMS to focus on emergencies.
- Expedite specialty trauma care for patients by connecting EMS in the field with neurologists, cardiologists, or other specialty physicians to determine the right medical care in the fastest time possible.
EMS weighs in on telehealth
To ensure FirstNet is primed to support telehealth, the FirstNet Authority looks to the public safety community. Four national EMS organizations provide recommendations and expertise to the FirstNet Authority, as part of our Public Safety Advisory Committee, including:
These EMS representatives, together with representatives from the fire service, formed a FirstNet Authority strike team on telehealth.
The strike team is now reconvening to study EMS agencies’ use of telehealth during the pandemic and analyze how EMS incorporated video over broadband into their daily operations. This analysis will help us understand how FirstNet can best support EMS’s use of telehealth. Stay tuned to www.firstnet.gov for more information about the strike team’s work.
Your experience
Is your agency using telehealth? Has the pandemic affected your use of telehealth? We’d love to hear your experiences and always welcome your feedback and questions about FirstNet.
*These numbers have not been validated by the FirstNet Authority
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The FirstNet network continues to expand across America. In the last three months, new cell sites have gone up in: Arizona, Idaho, Maine, Maryland, Minnesota, Missouri, Montana, New Hampshire, New Jersey, New Mexico, New York, Tennessee, and near the Lake Traverse Reservation in South Dakota.
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FirstNet is helping communities respond to COVID-19, by supporting vaccination efforts, enabling remote 9-1-1 operations, connecting healthcare workers, and supporting social distancing. The network allows responders to maintain reliable communications when and where they need it most – in the field, at work, and at home.
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Tech, Innovations, and Hot Topics in EMS
Read what we’ve been hearing from public safety in the field about trends and drivers for EMS and emergency communications.*
Because of stressful work environments and repeated exposure to trauma, EMS and other first responders may experience an increased risk for mental health issues such as depression, post-traumatic stress disorder, stress, and suicidal behaviors. While first responders’ job is to help others, they must also help themselves. There are mental health tools and other wellness resources available, tailored to the demands of public safety careers.
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FirstNet Authority Board Member and Utah Department of Health Division Director Paul Patrick shares how the FirstNet network is transforming medical emergency response by providing EMTs and hospitals a direct line of communication.
Watch the video |
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Paul Patrick serves on the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) Board and is a former interim chair of the FirstNet Authority’s Public Safety Advisory Committee (PSAC). He is Director for the State of Utah’s Family Health and Preparedness Division where he oversees the Office of Emergency Medical Services and Preparedness and eight other programs.
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Top photo: An EMS professional, FirstNet Authority Board Member Paul Patrick, and FirstNet Authority CEO Ed Parkinson discuss FirstNet in an ambulance. FirstNet can help drive innovations forward and equip EMS practitioners and emergency care providers across the nation with new tools to help them save lives.
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*FirstNet Authority may provide hyperlinks for third-party, non-governmental websites in order to offer additional context and added value for our users. FirstNet Authority does not endorse any product or service and is not responsible, nor can it guarantee the validity or timeliness of the content on hyperlinks outside of the federal government. In addition, users may wish to review privacy notices on non-government sites since their information collection practices may differ from ours.
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