WEBINAR

Post-Crash Care - Innovations in Managing Patient Entrapment and Extrication

Hosted by NHTSA’s Office of EMS on Thursday, December 19, at 1pm ET / 10am PT

EMS clinicians respond to nearly 1.5 million motor vehicle crashes on the nation's roadways each year. Of those, at least 55,226 involve patients trapped or pinned in vehicles in need of extrication.

In this webinar, experts will explore entrapment-related injuries and the specialized skills and training EMS clinicians need. 

Panelists will review: 

• Current NAEMSP recommendations for entrapped patients
• The latest research from the United Kingdom 
• Traditional extrication techniques and technology
• Rapid extrication methods, self-extrication and the hazards of prolonged entrapment
• Training and skills needed to manage entrapped patients and support patient-centered rescue throughout the extrication process
• Patient communication and airway, injury and hypothermia management

Panelists Include:

Nichole Bosson, MD, MPH, NRP, FAEMS, medical director, Los Angeles County Emergency Medical Services Agency, associate professor of clinical emergency medicine at the David Geffen School of Medicine at UCLA; faculty member and EMS fellowship director in the Department of Emergency Medicine at Harbor-UCLA.

Tim Nutbeam, MB, ChB, Medicine, professor of emergency medicine and post-collision care, Peninsula Medical School, University of Plymouth, Great Britain; consultant in emergency medicine and prehospital emergency medicine.

Attendees will be encouraged to submit questions during any point of the discussion. The webinar and Q&A will last approximately one hour.

Marburg Virus Disease: New EMS Guidelines

Viral Hemorrhagic Fevers (VHFs) are severe illnesses caused by a range of viruses, some of which have high fatality rates. Although cases are rare in the United States, these viruses are becoming more prevalent internationally. Examples of VHFs include Marburg virus disease (MVD), with a fatality rate averaging around 50% (ranging from 24% to 88%), Lassa fever, with a hospital fatality rate of 15% to 20% (and as high as 50% in pandemic settings), Ebola virus disease (EVD), and Crimean-Congo hemorrhagic fever (CCHF). The recent national attention surrounding a fatal Lassa fever case in Iowa underscores the importance for EMS clinicians to stay informed about VHFs.

The National Highway Traffic Safety Administration (NHTSA) Office of EMS strongly encourages EMS clinicians to familiarize themselves with VHFs, including where they occur, how they spread, what questions to ask patients, and how to protect themselves. The National Emerging Special Pathogens Training & Education Center (NETEC) provides guidance for the management of VHFs and has recently updated the MVD NETEC guidelines for EMS clinicians, in October 2024 to align with current CDC recommendations. These guidelines for EMS clinicians emphasize the "Identify, Isolate, and Inform" paradigm, previously used for diseases like Ebola and mpox.

Emergency responders are encouraged to learn the signs and symptoms of VHFs and to assess patients with travel-related questions when appropriate. While most EMS clinicians in the United States are unlikely to encounter a VHF case during routine operations, international outbreaks heighten the risk of encountering an infected patient who may have traveled from an affected region. EMS agencies serving areas with international ports of entry should be especially vigilant.

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Contact Us

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
nhtsa.ems@dot.gov

Register now for our upcoming National Rural Health Day webinar

The Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services Office of Minority Health (CMS OMH) invites you to celebrate National Rural Health Day on November 19 at 2 p.m. ET with a webinar highlighting the latest resources from CMS including reports and information on rural, tribal, and geographically isolated communities. We’ll also get to feature the work of a 2024 CMS Health Equity Awardee Augusta Health to improve health equity within the Shenandoah Valley.

When: November 19 from 2 – 3 pm ET

Where: Virtual webinar, please register

Registration:https://us06web.zoom.us/webinar/register/WN_8e5JeFaiTfOH8sWvPKwsiQ#/registration

We’re proud to have recognized Augusta Health as a 2024 CMS Health Equity Award winner for their work in helping to improve health care access in rural communities. Augusta Health is a non-profit, independent hospital serving communities of the Shenandoah Valley in Virgina. Since its launch in 2022, their Primary Care Mobile Clinic program has grown to 14 different sites every month including community centers, churches, fire houses, the mayor’s office, and homeless shelters. In one year, the program provided over 1,700 primary care visits for 825 patients at 17 different sites. Augusta Health’s Primary Care Mobile Clinic program illustrates the impact of community-driven interventions in addressing health disparities.

Click here to register.

Paid for by the US Department of Health and Human Services.

Dear Ground Ambulance Providers and Suppliers,

We wanted you to be aware that we posted the following announcement on our Ambulances Services Center website:

CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule Final Rule

CMS issued the CY 2025 Physician Fee Schedule (PFS) final rule that announces finalized policy changes for Medicare payments under the PFS and other Medicare Part B payment policy issues, including ambulance services. For CY 2025, we proposed to modify the definition of advanced life support level two (ALS2) at § 414.605 by adding the administration of low titer O+ whole blood transfusion (WBT) to the list of ALS2 procedures. We also solicited comments on whether we should add alternative blood product treatments, such as the administration of packed red blood cells (PRBCs) and plasma, to the list of ALS2 procedures.

After consideration of public comments, and considering further that the indications for use, storage requirements, administration, monitoring, and training for the use of PRBCs and plasma are similar to those previously described for WBT, we are finalizing our proposal to modify the definition of ALS2 at §414.605 by adding the administration of prehospital blood transfusion (PHBT) which includes low titer O+ and O- whole blood transfusion therapy, PRBCs, plasma, or a combination of PRBCs and plasma. A ground ambulance transport that provides one of these PHBTs would itself constitute an ALS2 level transport.

IV Fluid Conservation
Briefing and Supply Update

On Monday, October 28th, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services hosted a briefing on intravenous fluid (IV) conservation best practices.  This session was recorded and is now available at the link below. 

Up-to-date information on shortages related to Hurricane Helene’s impact on Baxter’s North Cove, NC, facility can be found on the U.S. Food & Drug Administration’s Hurricane Helene webpage, as well as on Baxter’s website.

Sign up to receive the latest news from the Office of EMS, including webinars, newsletters and industry updates.

Contact Us

1200 New Jersey Avenue, SE
Washington, DC 20590
nhtsa.ems@dot.gov

NHTSA’s Office of EMS Hosts Education Workshop on August 14

NHTSA’s Office of EMS will host a 4-hour workshop to discuss and prioritize the responses to the EMS Education Agenda 2050 (EEA2050) Request For Information (RFI). Published in the Federal Register in October of 2023, the RFI remained open until the end of March 2024. It requested responses to twenty-two questions from all sources about the vision of EMS Education in the United States by the year 2050.

The EEA2050 workshop will take place as a pre-National Association of EMS Educators (NAEMSE) Symposium workshop.

• Date: Wednesday, August 14, 2024
• Time: 1 - 5 p.m. ET
• Location: Wyndham Grand Pittsburgh, 600 Commonwealth Pl, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania 15222

All EMS Education stakeholders are encouraged to attend and participate in this discussion.

This workshop is free to attend, but only registrants will be permitted to participate. No CEUs will be issued. Contact Clary.Mole@dot.gov if you have any questions.