Pinellas County Emergency Medical Services highlighted in the February edition of JEMS magazine for their QI program.

Exerpt from JEMS article:

Has your quality improvement function actually made anything better? The honest answer for many EMS systems is, “No.” For those that can say yes, better documentation is often cited as their evidence—not the kind of improvement that inspires thank you letters and cookies from grateful patients.

The EMS system in Pinellas County, Fla., is one that’s made measurable clinical improvements to the care that’s provided to their patients and their community.

Its success can be credited to deep collaboration between more than 1,800 frontline EMTs and paramedics working in 19 different organizations across this western Florida coastal community: 18 municipal fire departments providing ALS first response and Sunstar Paramedics, the contracted ALS ambulance service.

These agencies, along with the Pinellas County EMS and Fire Administration and the EMS medical director, work together in a unique way that delivers real benefit to patients.

Getting nearly 2,000 EMS clinicians on the same page about providing consistent, high-quality care is remarkable and doesn’t happen by accident.

To continue reading the full article from JEMS magazine, click here.

Photo James Zabon / Courtesy RedFlash Group