EMS News Briefs from Mike McEvoy

EMS Coordinator Mike McEvoy, Ph.D., NRP, RN, CCRN
NYSAFC EMS Committee

Paper PCR Submission Ends July 1
Effective July 1, 2021, any EMS agency still using paper patient care reports must submit these electronically through a DOH paper PCR portal. Scanned paper PCRs can be uploaded through the portal with some fields required to be keyed into the website. Both BLSFR and ambulance services can elect to use a free online direct entry ePCR platform recently launched by DOH. Additional information is contained in Policy Statement #21-04, available here.

Prehospital Airway Management Review Completed
In response to numerous calls for eliminating endotracheal intubation by EMS providers, the feds commissioned a study to evaluate the benefits and harm resulting from prehospital bag-valve-mask ventilation (BVM), use of supraglottic airways (SGA), and endotracheal intubation (ETI). The findings were interesting and well worth a read by every EMS provider, but ultimately, there was not sufficient strength of the evidence available currently to support any one type of airway management over the others. Take a look at the results on the EMS.gov site here.