I have just returned from a trip where I got a chance to learn about the EMS system in Great Britain. Interestingly, I found that they have many of the same challenges that we do. They are trying to improve their outcomes of cardiac arrest and are looking at the best way to do that. They are trying to develop processes to reduce the number of non-emergent ambulance responses and alternatives to taking everyone to the hospital. They have standard national protocols that are the minimum standard for all ambulance services. That means that they have a uniform set of medications and equipment.
There are national clinical performance goals that they take very seriously. At the end of the year, if it looks like they are going to miss the required marks, they cancel all meetings and send everyone into the field to work on the goals. The medical directors are directly responsible for these goals and have to answer for them.
Their goals include response times, care of stroke victims and of patients with STEMI.
Their goals also include survival of cardiac arrest.
For reference, the Allina Health EMS survival to hospital discharge rate is 14.4%. This is better than the average of Hennepin County, Minnesota or the US.
In Great Britain, the number is 7.5%.
You should be very proud of what you do.
Ultimately, I learned we have a very good EMS system. While we can lean from others about how to tackle some of the challenges in front of us, we do things very well.
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