NAEMT Joint Task Force Report On EMS Response Staffing

The paper was produced by the Joint Task Force on EMS Response Staffing Configurations, a group made up of eight national and international professional emergency services associations, including the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), and the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC).

According to the report, “The current Emergency Medical Services (EMS) delivery model places significant emphasis on short response times and advanced life support (ALS) staffing. However, contemporary evidence-based research has revealed response times have little to no impact on patient outcomes for the majority of EMS responses,”

The U.S. is experiencing an EMS staffing shortage crisis due, in part, to burnout and workforce retention. This results in a challenge to find evidence-based solutions for maintaining this vital service while, at the same time, identifying the “root causes” for the shortages and effectively addressing them.

While the number of Emergency Medical Technicians (EMTs) in the U.S. has actually increased, a NAEMT survey indicates that the actual number of applications for EMS field positions is down 13 per cent.

The report offers a number of reasons for this decline, and the apparent increase in overall job dissatisfaction, including stress, long hours, and relatively low pay.

The recommendations for solutions centered on whether there is an evidence-based need for ambulance staffing to include, as is typical, an ALS certified paramedic.

The evidence presented in the report was enlightening in its call for changes to our current thinking on the need for advanced life support (ALS) availability, and the importance of reduced response times.

You can read the white paper at: rethinking-ems—staffing-wp-v2.pdf