Emergency care has always been an important part of history all over the world. It has been said that medical assistance has been around and prevalent since as far back as 1500 B.C. Around the 1700’s is when EMS systems first began to experience large advancements, and ever since then, the field continues to grow and improve every year.
The EMS system goes back to the Crusades in the 11th century. The Knights of St. John were instructed by Arab and Greek doctors for first-aid treatment. The Knights were the first medical responders of that time, treating both sides of the war. The injured were taken to tents to be treated further. In 1792, the chief physician in Napoleons Army, Baron Dominique-Jean Larrey, designed and created the “flying ambulance”, which was a special type of carriage staffed with a group of medical personnel made to access every part of the battlefield. Then, in 1797, he also instituted the first pre-hospital system designed to triage and transport the wounded in the field to proper aid stations. Larrey’s actions and groundbreaking ideas helped increase the chances for survival among wounded soldiers and ultimately benefitted Napoleon’s conquest efforts.
In the early 1860’s, the first field ambulance and attendant was created by the United States. The first recorded use of the ambulance and attendant was during the civil war. Both sides tried to make their medical practices equal, if not better than what was used in the Napoleonic Wars. But due to the lack of funding, government support, and personnel dedication, these attempts failed. In 1864, at the Geneva Conventions, an agreement was made that the European countries would recognize the neutrality of hospitals and ambulances so that the sick and wounded,...
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...ents also joined together in a resolution to expand into EMS. Proposed in 1993, EMT Physicians assumed a bigger role in primary care of non-emergency patients by learning a wide variety of new skills. In 1996, the EMS Agenda for the future was made, further connecting Emergency Medical Services to other medical professions.
In 2005, Congress reauthorized the legislation for the NHTSA. Under the Safe, Accountable, Flexible, Efficient Transportation Equality Act: A Legacy for Users or SAFETEA-LU, Congress then created the Federal Interagency Committee on Emergency Medical Services. The EMS system today is still a serious career that is competitive to get into. Medical Assistance is integrated into Law Enforcement, Fire Fighters, and anyone in public safety because it’s an honorable career and works to improve the safety of the community in which we live in.
Turk, Sarah. "Ambulance Services in the US." IBISWorld. N.p., Oct. 2013. Web. 7 Mar. 2014.
The history of how Surgical Technologists began on the battlefields in World War II, when the Army used medics to work under the direct supervision of the surgeon, nurses were not allowed aboard combat ships at time, this led to a new profession within the military called Operating Room Technicians (ORTs). An accelerated nursing program was form only on operating room technology was set up as an on the job training of nursing assistants who worked in the surgery department, th...
The roles and responsibilities of an EMT is to be on time to the job and have a positive attitude when you come to work. EMTs work with different, that have very different attitudes and people sometimes aren’t that nice in the ambulance and sometimes, if not most of the time, can or are very rude so I have to be ready to deal with all types of people while I’m on the job. EMTs have to know what type of care to give the victim weather it is giving an IV or simply taking blood. They have to know all these things.
For much of the United States’ history, problems with private hospitals refusing to treat people without financial means and transferring them to public hospitals existed. Many patients who were in serious medical crisis did not survive the journey or many died soon after. This proved that these transfers can be detrimental to the emergency victim’s health.
Williams, B, Brown, T & Onsman, A 2012, ‘From stretcher-bearer to paramedic: The Australian paramedics’ move towards professionalisation’, Australian Journal of Paramedicine, vol. 7, no. 4, pp. 8, viewed 12 May 2014, < http://ro.ecu.edu.au/jephc/vol7/iss4/8/>
Before the 1800’s healthcare was a family affair with woman at the home front, to take care of all illnesses within their family, on occasion a doctor would be fetched if the infections were life threatening and could not be treated by the women in the household. So it was around this time that healthcare started growing from more of a home remedies base and traveling doctors with little to no training, to a more well-rounded knowledgeable and respected practice. In the mid to late 1800s, as America became increasingly urbanized, this made an amplified need for bigger and better equipped hospitals. Doctors who would travel to their sick patients stopped and began treating them all under one roof. Unlike the hospitals in Europe, patients were treated in one large shared area, but the Americans innovations to hospitals facilities gave patients who could pay, were treated in smaller and often more private rooms. In 1846 the earliest efforts of doctors to create a cohesive professional organization was the American Medical Association. Since 1847 the American Med...
Urgent care centers first opened in the United States in the early 1980s (http://www.chcf.org/~/media/MEDIA%20LIBRARY%20Files/PDF/PDF%20N/PDF%20NoAppointmentNecessaryUrgentCareCenters.pdf no appointment needed). The inspiration behind establishing urgent care centers originated when entrepreneurial physicians identified a gap in the industry. As there was a shortage of primary care physicians who lacked flexibility and extended office hours patients were forced to turn to emergency rooms for non-emergency treatment. As a result, emergency rooms became crowded with low risk patients that did not need immediate care. Consequently, overcrowding resulted in long wait times, unsatisfied patients, misdiagnosis, and overworked emergency rooms physicians. Additionally, at least two domains of quality of care, safety and timeliness, are compromised by emergency room crowding (http://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/10.1111/j.1553-2712.2008.00295.x/full). Ultimately, in order to remedy such overcrowding urgent care centers were established.
was dying. That started the popularity of hospitals. This way the patients would all be in one place and
American Red Cross (1993). Community First Aid & Safety. Mosby Lifeline, St. Louis. (pg. 184)
Emergency Departments (EDs) worldwide are in a predicament due to the increasingly crushing nature of soaring demand, increased number of visits, overuse and misuse, and escalating costs. Adding to the catastrophe is the fact that for the past 20 years the number of ED’s have decreased due to closures. The disproportion of demand versus capacity has ultimately caused overcrowding, long wait times, and patients departing without being seen (Love, Murphy, Lietz, & Jordan, 2012). Furthermore, studies suggest overcrowded ED’s result in reduced quality of care; causing treatment delays, patients dissatisfied, and increases in morbidity and mortality (Hayden, Burlingame, Thompson, & Sabol,
“Emergency medical technicians and paramedics employment is expected to grow much faster that the average for all occupations through 2014, as EMTs and paramedics full-time paid replaced
There was major progress in terms of medical treatment, nursing, and surgery during the Crimean War, the American Civil War and World War One. Still, these improvements were not capable to combat efficiently enough the epidemics that manifested themselves during these conflicts as well as the serious injuries that resulted from the development of increasingly lethal weapons.
The Emergency Medical Services, abbreviated EMS, was created to provide immediate medical attention to people (Purpose of EMS). The EMS has 6 principles they strive to follow which includes: “Early detection, Early reporting, Early response, Good on scene care, Care in transit and Transfer to definitive care” (Purpose of EMS). EMTs or Emergency Medical Technician(s) are trained workers in the EMS. They possess the basic knowledge and skills to stabilize and transport patients. Their purpose is to provide off-site emergency medical care and transportation for patients (Emergency Medical Technicians (EMT).
This care can include rendering aid for a variety of medical conditions such as stroke, heart attack, and trauma. As we have identified previously, pre-hospital emergency care has been around for a really long time. However, it wasn’t until the mid 1960’s that the importance of, and the need to improve pre-hospital care really began to take shape. Pre-hospital care is important to our society because it gives a greater chance of survival to someone who is experiencing one of the previously mentioned conditions. For example, if someone has suffered a stroke, there is a narrow time frame that person has for the the clot busting medication to be administered in order to dissolve the clots which are causing the stroke. With prompt pre-hospital emergency care and rapid transport, the patient’s chance of survivability is greatly improved. Trauma is another area in which pre-hospital emergency care plays a critical role in survivability. According to the National Trauma Institute, “trauma injury accounts for 30% of all life years lost in the U.S.” (National Trauma Institute. (n.d.). Retrieved July 15, 2016,
Throughout this course, we have discussed the various key elements of the history of emergency management. The final chapter of the text, however, discusses the important aspects of the future of emergency management. The first important element that was discussed in this chapter was the diversity in those who work in the field of emergency management. Historically, the individuals that who have had careers in emergency management were primarily males. Now, there is starting to be an increase in diversity including various ethnicities, races, and genders. Diversity is an important aspect because it allows for more assorted insights, expertise, and experiences. In addition to learning about the increased diversity in the field of emergency management, this chapter also discusses the importance of furthering your knowledge about the field. Though education by reading and attending lectures is crucial, it is also important to expand knowledge through internships, training, exercises, and even conferences. Another way that individuals can further their knowledge is by finding a mentor. Having a mentor can help with connecting individuals to various opportunities, while also providing guidance and advice about various areas in the field of emergency management. The last component that is