Monday Feb 06, 2023
Sirens, transformation and trends
This episode of EMS One-Stop with Rob Lawrence is brought to you by Lexipol, the experts in policy, training, wellness support and grants assistance for first responders and government leaders. To learn more, visit lexipol.com.
In this episode of EMS One-Stop, host Rob Lawrence welcomes Matt Zavadsky back to the podcast to catch up on three key ongoing issues and developments: MedStar’s EMS-on-demand model via their MedStarSaver+PLUS program, the recent article by Zavadsky and Dr. Doug Kupas on the reduction of red lights and sirens with the additional news that MedStar ceased all RLS use during the recent ice-related weather event. Finally, Zavadsky discusses the recent National Association of Emergency Medical Technicians’ 2022 EMS Worker Engagement Survey and the top five takeaways.
Top quotes from this episode
“One of the mantras we have always said is if someone is going to get paid to reduce our call volume, it should be us.”
“We take an oath to do no further harm, if we know that we are doing something that causes further harm while we are getting to a call that probably doesn’t need an immediate response, then we are not fulfilling our oath.”
“Our medical director has implemented a directive in the same theme of bad weather, bad driving that no patient will be transported with CPR in progress, meaning that you are just not going to transport patients in cardiac arrest … there is no reason for us to relocate corpses from the field to the emergency room.”
“Community expectation ... is it really what the community expects or is it something we have taught them to expect because we are competing for contracts?”
Episode contents
1:52 MedStar Saver Plus Model
11:37 NAEMSP2023 discussion
13:15 Red lights and sirens reduction
15:11 MedStar suspends RLS
19:07 Political navigation to reduce use of RLS with local officials
23:06 We stink at communicating effectively with our workforce
23:45 We stink at providing feedback to our employees about their performance (and their patients)
24:59 We don’t pay our people enough
26:21 California’s Medi-Cal Campaign
29:10 Work-life balance is a real thing
32:13 This is a long-term challenge that needs long-term solutions
34:33 Zavadsky’s final thoughts
34:44 Drs. Larmon, Kazan and Mackey
Additional resources
EMS-on-demand the next big transformation for the profession?
Culture shift: Reducing lights and siren vehicle operation
The EMS workforce: Critical condition!
About our guest
Matt Zavadsky is the chief transformation officer for MedStar Mobile Healthcare, the Public Utility Model EMS system serving Fort Worth, and 14 other cities in Texas. He has 43 years of experience in EMS. He is an at-large director for NAEMT and chairs its EMS Economics Committee.
Connect with Matt Zavadsky
Twitter: @MattZavadsky
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