Premier Health EMS Center of Excellence – Distance Learning Program

By Candy Skidmore, RN, CHEP, system vice president for service integration – emergency, trauma, and CareFlight, Premier Health

The Premier Health EMS Center of Excellence (COE) provides outstanding resources for EMS systems in Southwest Ohio, striving to improve outcomes for all patients within our communities. The EMS COE serves to enhance partnerships between hospital providers and pre-hospital care providers to strengthen the care we collectively provide. The COVID-19 pandemic has unfortunately created significant challenges in offering the necessary ongoing education for those who provide pre-hospital care. In 2020, our EMS COE began the development of a distance learning program that allows EMS providers to sign up for classes. These courses offer a live presentation, allow for questions from the participants, and provide them with continuing education units (CEU). The presentations are then stored on our Premier Health portal where they can be viewed for several weeks. The program was the first of its kind in the state to be readily available for EMS.  

This distance learning program was so well received in 2020 that it was continued and expanded in 2021 and features our physicians providing invaluable information to EMS providers and others in health care from a broad geographical area. Additionally, our EMS providers have become acquainted with the depth of our physician specialties, learned how to improve patient care in the field, and have been able to connect with providers within Premier Health.

In 2021, the Premier Health EMS Center of Excellence distance learning program offered 38 classes that amounted to 4,597 distance learning CEU certificates awarded to participants from 222 EMS agencies across Ohio and nine other states: Colorado, Iowa, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Michigan, Minnesota, New York, and Wisconsin. The program has been wildly successful, and requests for more courses come in daily.

Thank you to all of our physicians who offered their time to provide this education need for our first responders!  

Asymptomatic COVID testing in Premier Health Emergency Departments

Patients have at times arrived at one of our emergency departments seeking a COVID test, despite having no symptoms and not seeking medical care. Typically, this is due to concerns over a possible exposure, the need for a required test for work/school, or even travel. These visits can prove to be quite frustrating for patients, as Premier Health emergency departments do not provide COVID testing on asymptomatic patients. While we have implemented external signage to help direct patients to an appropriate testing center, this situation still occurs. In the event you have a patient who is asymptomatic, but simply seeking a COVID test, please direct them to a testing center. 

Back to the January 2022 issue of Premier Pulse