Regions ED and EMS at Twin Cities Marathon

Please Welcome Dr. Eric Ernest, Regions EMS’s new Fellow

Dr. Eric Ernest, the newest Regions EMS fellow, has begun his ACGME accredited fellowship with us on July 8, 2013. Dr. Ernest earned a B.S. in Emergency Medical Services from Creighton University and then continued with his education at Creighton University College of Medicine, graduating in 2010. He has completed the Emergency Medicine residency program at the University of Nebraska as well as an EMS elective month at the University of New Mexico. He has street experience as a Paramedic in the state of Nebraska. During residency Dr. Ernest served as the assistant medical director for the Bellevue and Omaha fire departments. He was highly recruited to our fellowship and we are excited to have him joining us at Regions EMS!

As an EMS fellow with Regions, Dr. Ernest is an authorized medical control physician and may provide on-scene and on-line medical control via MRCC. He has a scene response vehicle and will be spending 40 hours per week responding to calls with our EMS services. At the completion of his one year fellowship (July, 2014) he will be prepared to sit for the American Board of Emergency Medicine sponsored board certification exam in Emergency Medical Services.

Please distribute this bio and picture to your crews as I’m sure they will be meeting him in person or on the radio very soon!

Aaron Burnett, M.D.
Assistant Medical Director
Regions Hospital EMS
Assistant Professor
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of Minnesota
http://www.facebook.com/RegionsEMS

Regions EMS has strong showing at NAEMSP!

Regions EMS has a strong showing at the National Association of EMS Physicians annual meeting this week. Two of our abstracts are being presented by resident physicians from our affiliated Emergency Medicine Residency program! 

 

1. Comparison of Success Rates between Two Video Laryngscope Systems Used in a Prehospital Clinical Trial. Oral Presentation by Dr. Aaron Burnett.
2. Facilitation of Uninterrupted Chest Compressions by Paramedics: The Role of the Video Laryngscope. Dr Samantha Kealey presenting.
3. Does Health Status Influence the Willingness to Provide Informed Consent? Results from a Cardiac Arrest Trail Conducted under Exception from Informed Consent. Josh Salzman, director Regions Hospital Critical Care Research Center presenting.
4. Determinants of Ventricular Fibrillation Incidence as First Recorded Rhythm during Out of Hospital Cardiac Arrest and Association with Long Term Neurologic Outcomes. Observations from a Large Randomized Clinical Study. Dr. RJ Frascone presenting
5. Alternative Airway use by Paramedics after Video Laryngscope Failure. Dr. Zabrina Evens presenting.

 

IHCC Community Paramedic Program in the News

The Pioneer Press ran a front page article today on Inver Hill’s Community College’s Community Paramedic program. Read below to learn more about how IHCC is leading the way in advancing the filed of prehospital medicine!

Inver Hills’ program aims to certify paramedics for in-home care By Christopher Magan cmagan@pioneerpress.com TwinCities.com-Pioneer Press Posted:

TwinCities.com

The paramedics who now rush patients to hospitals soon may be treating their less-severe medical needs at home instead of in costly emergency rooms.

That’s the aim of a new certification program for community paramedics offered by Inver Hills Community College. The school will begin teaching the 12-credit program in February.

The certification is part of a more holistic, patient-focused approach to health care in the United States.

Minnesota is one of a few states to try community paramedics as a way to provide care and cut down on costly emergency room visits. Once certified, these emergency medics can check on patients with chronic conditions, collect lab specimens and perform minor medical procedures.

“The whole goal of community paramedics is to keep people healthy,” said Dr. Aaron Burnett, medical director of Inver Hills emergency training programs and an emergency physician at Regions Hospital. “It is a transition, from emergency care to population health.”

The role of a community paramedic will be defined largely by where they work, Burnett said. In rural Minnesota, they may provide vaccinations when the demand for ambulance service is slow. In cities like St. Paul, they could check on patients who recently had surgery or provide routine health screenings in low income communities.

“I think, in metro areas, it will be a way to keep people out of the hospital,” Burnett said, noting that patients often wind up in emergency rooms unnecessarily and are exposed to a myriad of other illnesses. The community paramedics will be trained to recognize when patients are on a “slippery slope” that requires more advanced care.

The program has the potential to provide cost savings as doctors, insurers and patients look for more economical ways to provide health care.

Health care costs have grown ten fold in the U.S. over the past 30 years. The Kaiser Family Foundation, which analyzes health care trends and policy, found spending topped $2.5 trillion in 2010. Of that, 51 percent was spent on hospital stays and physician care and just 3 percent on in-home health care.

The demand for home health care workers and paramedics is expected to climb by 33 percent or more in the next decade, according to the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics.

Working paramedics from around the state can enroll in Inver Hills’ certificate program because students only are required to be on campus a few days, said Tia Radant, the college’s director of emergency training. Most of the course work can be done online and at clinical sites around Minnesota.

The college is partnering with Saint Mary’s University, and graduates of the certificate program can go on to earn a bachelor’s degree in allied health care management from the school. That provides a “career path” for emergency medical workers that wasn’t there before.

Inver Hills is at the forefront of a campaign to better educate emergency health care workers, Radant said. Only a handful of states, not including Minnesota, require paramedics hold a college degree.

“The skills and job expectations for a paramedic is highly developed and beyond the written protocol,” she said. “The job has evolved so much, and we believe more education makes a better paramedic.”

Community paramedics will be clinicians rather than technicians, she says, but they won’t replace existing health care workers such as in-home nurses. Instead, the certification was designed to fill a gap in services by providing preventative care.

Tim Howey, an emergency medical instructor at Inver Hills, has worked since September as a community paramedic for North Memorial Medical Center in Robbinsdale, which has one of the only programs in the state. He spends his time making sure patients have the proper medicines and that their chronic conditions haven’t worsened.

It keeps patients from returning to the hospital. It’s also more personal than a 15-minute ambulance ride.

“That’s been a very different aspect of the job for me, looking at a whole patient rather than just a set of problems,” Howey said. “We’ve been getting excellent feedback. It’s hard to put a cost savings number on it this early on, but my observations so far tell me people are getting better care.”

Christopher Magan can be reached at 651-228-5557. Follow him at www.twitter.com/cmaganPiPress.

Lakeview EMS Paramedics Fighting Cancer

Paramedics with Lakeview EMS and other East Metro/Western WI EMS services are participating in “Movember” to raise money for cancer research. See the article in the Pioneer Press below to learn more including how to donate to support their efforts!

 

http://www.google.com/url?q=http%3A%2F%2Fwww.twincities.com%2Fci_21907364%3Fsource%3Drss&sa=D&sntz=1&usg=AFQjCNHNKtwCXy7fcQ05zjcYV5q4urmSpw

Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium EMS Academy Nov 12 & 13

The Minnesota Resuscitation Consortium is hosting a Resuscitation Academy November 12 & 13. See the attached PDF for more info!

academy flyer Nov 2012

Regions EMS Announces next EMS Fellow

I am happy to announce that Dr. Eric Ernest has accepted a position as the next Regions EMS fellow starting summer 2013 through summer 2014. Dr. Ernest is currently completing his Emergency Medicine residency at the University of Nebraska where he also serves as an Assistant Medical Director for the Omaha and Bellevue Fire Departments. He holds a B.S. degree in Emergency Medical Services and has extensive experience as a field paramedic. Dr. Ernest has also been heavily involved in Creighton University EMS Education teaching the next generation of EMS providers. Please join me in extending a warm welcome to Dr. Ernest and his family!

Regions Hospital EMS fellowship began in 2010. Dr. Bjorn Peterson , our current fellow, is a graduate of the Regions Hospital EM residency and will complete his fellowship training in January 2014. EMS is now a board certified subspecialty of Emergency Medicine and the first board certification examination is anticipated in 2014. EMS fellowships will begin being accredited by the ACGME in 2013 and we expect our fellowship to qualify for this status. For more information see out fellowship website.

Aaron Burnett, M.D.
Assistant Medical Director
Regions Hospital EMS
Assistant Professor
Department of Emergency Medicine
University of Minnesota
http://www.facebook.com/RegionsEMS

Regions Pre-hospital Medicine/EMS Fellow Announcement

Dear Colleagues,

It is with great excitement that I write to introduce our next Regions Hospital Prehospital Medicine/EMS Fellow. Dr. Bjorn Peterson received his undergraduate degree in computer science from Bethel University. He attended Medical School at Loma Linda University. Dr. Peterson completed Emergency Medicine Residency at Regions Hospital where he served as chief resident. Dr. Peterson has experience as an Emergency Room Technician and his scholarly project during residency focused on EMS with the Maplewood Fire Department. He has elected to extend our traditional 12 month fellowship to 18 months to allow for more focused experiences in research, education and scene response. He is licensed in MN and WI and will work as a senior staff physician in the ED at Regions and Lakeview Hospitals. His fellowship officially began on July 1, 2012 and will finish on January 1, 2014.

As a Regions Prehospital Medicine/EMS fellow, Dr. Peterson will have access to a scene response vehicle and 800mHz radio and is authorized to provide on-scene as well as on-line medical control.

Please join me in welcoming Dr. Peterson to Regoins EMS!

For more information on this program please visit our Fellowship website.

http://www.regionsem.org/fellowships/emergency-medical-services-fellowship

Aaron Burnett, M.D.

Assistant Medical Director

Regions Hospital EMS

Assistant Professor

Department of Emergency Medicine

University of Minnesota

 

MN Resuscitation Consortium Newsletter

2012 Q 1 Newsletter

The MN Resuscitation Consortium first quarter newsletter is now available! MN currently has a 15% ROSC rate in out of hospital cardiac arrests. 37% of arrests are of presumed cardiac origin (VF or VT). Open the link to learn more! Thanks to the newest members of the CARES database: Oakdale Fire, St. Paul Fire, Burnsville Fire and Maplewood public safety!

PCRF Podcasts

 

How dangerous is it to work as a prehospital medical professional?  Listen to the latest Prehospital Care Research Forum to hear a discussion on some of the recent literature relating to this topic!

http://www.fisdap.net/podcasts/pcrf/working_emergency_medical_technician_one_most_dangerous_jobs