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The EMS Take: Winter 2021
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The EMS Take by Brent Williams
EMS physicians weigh in on FirstNet
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Listening to public safety has been part of our mission at the First Responder Network Authority (FirstNet Authority) since the beginning. We like to say FirstNet is built for public safety, by public safety. We have a group of advisors, called the Public Safety Advisory Committee, who represent all public safety disciplines and provide expertise and guidance. I am thrilled about the newest member organization to our advisory group – the National Association of EMS Physicians – because they offer an important perspective on EMS care.
More than a ride to the hospital
The National Association of EMS Physicians, or NAEMSP, represents physicians who work with out-of-hospital EMS providers and advocates for EMS issues. I appreciate the way the organization defines our EMS work: “EMS is much more than a ride to the hospital. It is a system of coordinated response and emergency medical care, involving multiple people and agencies. A comprehensive EMS system is ready every day for every kind of emergency.”
Similarly, FirstNet is a communications platform that is ready every day and for every kind of emergency. The network is especially helpful in prehospital care because it is interoperable. It connects subscribers across agencies and jurisdictions, from paramedics, to medical directors, to emergency room nurses and physicians. FirstNet is also useful in prehospital care because the network securely and reliably transmits data from diagnostic tools, supports video consultation with physicians, and tracks patients, personnel, and assets.
A vision for the future of EMS
I recently spoke with Dr. Lenny Weiss, who is NAEMSP’s representative on the FirstNet Authority Public Safety Advisory Committee. In clinical and academic roles, Dr. Weiss is an attending emergency physician at University of Pittsburgh Medical Center and assistant professor at University of Pittsburgh School of Medicine. In public safety roles, he serves as the assistant medical director for the City of Pittsburgh EMS and at STAT MedEvac, a critical care helicopter service, and as medical director for the SWAT team with the Pittsburgh police.
Dr. Weiss has a passion for advancing EMS care through technology and a vision for the future of EMS. He sees FirstNet benefiting a host of EMS scenarios.
One of these scenarios could be a mass casualty event where commercial networks quickly get overwhelmed and can’t transmit calls, texts, or data. “When a disaster happens, or even in day-to-day operations, everything is limited by communications,” said Dr. Weiss. “Each step of the critical milestones in a 9-1-1 call can be enhanced by FirstNet-enabled technology. The technology and enhancements that FirstNet provides are the future.”
Boots on the ground
While EMS physicians train alongside other doctors who work in offices, wear white coats, and write prescriptions, their passion is for working in the field side-by-side with paramedics and EMTs. That’s why the perspective of EMS physicians is a necessary area of expertise for the FirstNet Authority.
Dr. Weiss identified FirstNet Authority’s unique role in advancing public safety technology as critical for EMS operations. He said, “From the moment I heard about FirstNet, I got excited because never before had there been this kind of focus from the public sector on improving technology dedicated to the first responder community. I’m excited to help with advancing technology and utilizing it in the best fashion for responders to be efficient and safe.”
The FirstNet Authority will continue to engage with the EMS community to understand how FirstNet can best serve EMS through accessing data in real-time, facilitating telehealth, and improving out-of-hospital care.
Your experience
What is your perspective on FirstNet and EMS? Please send me an email to share your thoughts.
Also, I hope you’ll check out these events that my FirstNet Authority colleagues and I are attending:
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The FirstNet Authority continues to advance unique capabilities for public safety as outlined in the FirstNet Authority Roadmap, including four new mission-ready solutions:
FirstNet MegaRange™ boosts signal strength in hard-to-reach places using high-power user equipment (HPUE) only authorized on FirstNet.
Z-Axis for FirstNet offers vertical location mapping especially helpful with locating personnel in tall buildings that is not offered by traditional GPS.
Compact Rapid Deployables are available for public safety agencies to purchase, providing connectivity similar to cell sites in a matter of minutes.
FirstNet Push-to-Talk now can communicate seamlessly with land-mobile radio users, enabling better collaboration.
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The FirstNet network continues to expand across America. In the last three months, new cell sites have gone up in: Arkansas, Idaho, Illinois, Indiana, Kansas, Michigan, Montana, New Hampshire, North Carolina, Ohio, Oklahoma, Pennsylvania, Virginia, and West Virginia.
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Tech, Innovations, and Hot Topics in EMS
Read what we’ve been hearing from public safety in the field about trends and drivers for EMS and emergency communications.*
An ambulance service in the United Kingdom is testing a jet suit that can fly up mountains. In the test run, the jet suit carried paramedics to the top of a mountain in 90 seconds instead of a 25-minute hike, a time difference that could be lifesaving. The exercise demonstrated the potential of using jet suits to deliver critical care services in hard-to-reach places.
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Leonard S. Weiss, MD, FACEP, FAEMS talks about the importance of EMS physicians’ guidance to the FirstNet Authority. Dr. Weiss is the liaison for the National Association of EMS Physicians (NAEMSP) on the FirstNet Authority's Public Safety Advisory Committee. NAEMSP advises the FirstNet Authority on how FirstNet can best serve EMS and medical personnel, including how to provide the most advanced prehospital and out-of-hospital care to patients.
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Brent Williams is a Senior Public Safety Advisor and the First Responder Network Authority EMS Subject Matter Expert. Learn more about Brent or email him with your questions. |
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*FirstNet Authority may provide hyperlinks for third-party, non-governmental websites in order to offer additional context and added value for our users. FirstNet Authority does not endorse any product or service and is not responsible, nor can it guarantee the validity or timeliness of the content on hyperlinks outside of the federal government. In addition, users may wish to review privacy notices on non-government sites since their information collection practices may differ from ours.
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