VBEMS is pleased to announce Dr. Amir Louka has completed his field facilitation program and has now been released to general supervision in our EMS Duty Physician (EDP) program. The EDP program provides an opportunity for direct physician involvement in the full range of minute-to-minute pre-hospital operations. EDPs are...
Department
Posts authored by the Virginia Beach Department of EMS
Cot shoulder straps
A message primarily to: EMS ALS providers Cot shoulder straps Taking steps toward SAFETY EXCELLENCE It’s increasingly apparent that the overall safety attitudes of our personnel are being judged by just a few very visible habits, chief among them: whether or not we are using the cot shoulder straps...
Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF)
Diesel Exhaust Fluid (DEF) is a critical consumable substance in most or all of the diesel engine ambulances in our fleet. (Gasoline engines do not use DEF.) You must top off your DEF tank the next time you fill up with fuel if you see any of the...
Mishap Report
A message primarily to: All current EMS members Mishap Report It will never happen to you, right? Here are summaries of selected mishaps recently reported to the EMS Department. What could have been done to prevent these? While removing a scoop stretcher, a backboard fell out of its compartment...
LOSS of Situational Awareness
A message primarily to: All EMS members LOSS of Situational Awareness Know how to recognize and recover from it In our business, not only do we each need to execute the Observe-Orient-Decide-Act (OODA) loop skillfully, but the whole team needs to do this harmoniously. This applies when driving, doing...
Mishap Report
A message primarily to: All current EMS members Mishap Report It will never happen to you, right? Here are summaries of mishaps reported to the EMS Department over the past few months. What could have been done to prevent these? BACKING COLLISIONS: An ambulance, backing with one spotter, made...
Ambulance turning guidance
Members, Improper turns that result in “curbing” tires and side-swiping obstacles are *major* problems in our system, especially with ambulances. In the past 3 days, we’ve had at least 3 ambulances damaged and taken out of service by these errors. Unfortunately, that rate of damage is not terribly...
Ambulance backing guidance
Members, Improper backing is one of our top three vehicle safety problem areas. The following graphic has been reviewed by all squad commanders and provides guidance that we should be using when backing ambulances. Please note a couple of instructions that may be new to you: ...
Vehicle Safety — where we stand
Members, Recently, we’ve been doing a bunch of analysis on “possible fault vehicle events” in the VB EMS system. These are vehicle damage events that may have been our fault. All these events are severely disruptive to operations. Here’s a complicated graphic showing the relative frequency of...
Mishap Report
A message primarily to: All current EMS members Mishap Report It will never happen to you, right? Here are summaries of mishaps recently reported to the EMS Department. What could have been done to prevent these? An ambulance struck a mailbox when attempting to pull into a tight driveway....