The NAEMT Board issued a Position Statement affirming its belief in the rights of EMS patients and practitioners to have a safe environment when care is provided. The statement declares that all patients have the right to receive emergency and mobile healthcare that is:
- High quality and medically appropriate;
- Delivered on a timely basis using recognized and accepted patient safety standards;
- Delivered by appropriately trained, equipped and licensed emergency and mobile healthcare practitioners who are physically and mentally fit for duty; and
- Provided under the guidance of a qualified physician medical director.
The statement also asserts that all EMS practitioners have the right to:
- Work in a safe and healthy workplace;
- Be provided with the appropriate equipment and training to ensure the safety of their patients, themselves and their co-workers;
- Work within a “just culture," values-supportive system of shared accountability in which EMS agencies are accountable for the systems they have designed and for responding to the behaviors of their staff in a fair and just manner;
- Share information about patient care with their EMS agency, without fear of liability, as part of their agency’s quality improvement program; and
- Timely access to medical countermeasures when responding to biological or radiological events.
“High-quality emergency and mobile healthcare is expected in every community and essential to improve patient outcomes,” said NAEMT President Conrad “Chuck” Kearns. “The unpredictable risks of certain environments and exposure to infectious diseases threaten the safety of EMS practitioners, and ultimately the safety of their patients. To ensure that emergency and mobile healthcare is provided in an environment that is safe for both patients and practitioners, improvements must be made.”
Read the full text of the position statement >>