Fast Drivers, Slow Progress: Implementation of Evidence-Based Protocols in Emergency Medical Services

There are many questions which remain unanswered in emergency medical services (EMS). Among these issues, the most chronically plaguing include the development and implementation of evidence-based medical practices/protocols. While many specific issues within EMS require further research, an equally prolific number of practices have been supported by current literature. Yet, it has been postulated that EMS is slow to incorporate these practices on a widespread scale. At best, a relatively small number of “cutting-edge” EMS agencies institute policies and practices which are rooted in current literature, leaving surrounding agencies to follow suit over the subsequent several years. Further, even as systems’ policies and practices change, individual providers do not necessarily reflect these changes within their patient care approaches. This presentation focuses on a review of current practices and literature on topics such as prehospital spinal immobilization, an overview of cardiac emergency management, and protocol conception for EMS agencies. This research points to ways in which EMS, as a whole, can improve its ability to implement the current literature into practice. The survival of the profession may rely on its ability to transcend the deeply “traditional” practices employed in many systems in order to reach the scientific standards of care outlined by current literature. There will also be discussion on an in-progress review of protocols from multiple EMS agencies from the state of Kentucky. This project focuses on EMS agencies in Kentucky from all geographic regions of the state as well as a wide range of call volumes