Quality Assurance
The EMS Quality Assurance program is responsible for ensuring that the level of emergency medical patient care and transportation provided by Paramedics is done at a reliable and standard level. By constantly evaluating patient management and documentation, Quality Assurance is able to recognize strengths and weaknesses in the system and respond as necessary. The EMS Quality Assurance program helps establish a standard of care and identifies needs for training programs and education to ensure proper and professional care is provided at evolving levels. The program’s ability to identify areas where Paramedics are high performing allows for acknowledgment and positive feedback.
The Quality Assurance program consists of many different facets, some of which include direct Paramedic service observation, documentation review, intermittent skills evaluations and a comprehensive orientation process upon hiring. Although we typically concentrate on current practice, we evaluate our past and look to the future. We not only monitor our own trends such as response times and patient care but we also look outside and benchmark our practice against others in the field.
Operations Field Managers are also responsible for investigating and reporting on any internal or external concerns brought forward.
An effective Quality Assurance program provides the public with confidence that their emergency medical service is serving them with an established standard of care.
Staff Development
The goal of EMS staff development is to enhance and further the knowledge and skill base of our Paramedics while also ensuring a familiarity with existing standards.
Given the extraordinarily large geographic area of the district we cover, approximately 59,000 sq. kms, Algoma EMS continues in its efforts to make use of the benefits of technology to bring learning solutions to staff in the field. Using the computer workstations and Internet access available in all of our bases, we have been able to efficiently deliver educational material to staff. This allows for a rapid adaptation to evolving patient care issues to the benefit of those we serve.
Staff development also includes a student placement component. The Quality Assurance Supervisor coordinates the placement of both secondary school co-op students as well as college Paramedic students with practicing Paramedics. Secondary school students are given the opportunity to observe Paramedics on a daily basis as they go about their duties so that they may decide if a career in paramedicine is something they may wish to pursue. College Paramedic students complete their program required field placement hours and gain valuable experience in providing patient care under the direct supervision of Paramedics while simultaneously being exposed to the day to day operations of Algoma EMS and seeing what our service has to offer.