REGIONAL— While some area ambulance services may be small, they’re getting the job done and then some, according to a recent certification from the state’s Emergency Medical Services Regulatory Board, or EMSRB.
Three area ambulance services, including Tower, Cook, and Orr were among 95 ambulance services statewide to receive recognition for exceeding state and regional norms on at least five-of-nine clinical measures. That’s from among the more than 250 ambulance services located across the state. In St. Louis County, the only other ambulance services to receive the recognition were the Mayo Clinic Ambulance in Duluth and the tiny Meadowlands ambulance service.
“In early 2022, working with EMS physicians from across the state, the EMSRB established multiple clinical advisory performance measures that could be used to benchmark and highlight the wonderful prehospital care that Minnesotans receive every day from our dedicated EMTs and paramedics,” said Dylan Ferguson, executive director of the EMSRB, in a press statement issued Feb. 16. “The measures looked specifically at the quality of patient care in cases of strokes, chest pain, trauma, and pediatrics,” added Ferguson.
The measures were adopted by the EMSRB in consultation with the state’s Medical Director Standing Advisory Committee.
“The implementation of these measures was a step towards improving the already phenomenal care that is provided across the state of Minnesota every day,” stated Ferguson.
The EMSRB recognized those services that performed at a rate of 80 percent or higher on at least five of the nine clinical measures. But some area services did much better than that. The Tower Area Ambulance Service, for example, exceeded 80 percent on seven of the measures, while one of the measures had no examples in recent years with which to compare and so received no rating. The TAAS achieved a 100-percent rating on stroke encounters with documented stroke assessment and pediatric encounters resulting in medication administration. And it received ratings of 92 percent or above in chest pain encounters with documented 12-lead ECG, trauma patients with documented pain assessment, and respiratory encounters with documented respiratory assessment. In addition, the service received an 87.5-percent rating for stroke encounters with a scene time of 20 minutes or less and an 81.25-percent rating for stroke encounters with documented blood glucose. Those were all above the overall statewide average rating of 71.6 percent and well above the St. Louis County average of 65.81 percent.
The only area where the TAAS rated lower than average was for possible heart attack encounters with a scene time of less than 20 minutes. The service had just two such encounters last year and one of those calls, which was on Lake Vermilion’s Ely island, not surprisingly exceeded the 20-minute scene time, resulting in a 50-percent rating.
Tower Ambulance Director Dena Suihkonen said the recognition shows quality isn’t a matter of size. “I feel this shows small services are able to focus on doing what’s best for their patients,” she said. “I am very proud of our providers. This shows that not only are we treating patients appropriately we are documenting appropriately as well.”
Orr Ambulance director Donna Hoffer described the recognition as “awesome,” and is encouraged by the continuing interest in joining the volunteer service in the town of 250. While Orr may be among the smallest towns in the state with an ambulance service, it currently has 21 members on the roster. “And we just recruited a couple more,” said Hoffer.
Orr’s ambulance staff has been busier than usual this past year. In addition to covering emergency calls within its coverage area, it also responded to 58 mutual aid calls for neighboring departments that lacked available staff, a testament to the commitment of the Orr ambulance crew.