The EMS Quality Assurance program is overseen by the Deputy Chief. The program is responsible for ensuring that the emergency medical patient care and transportation provided by paramedics is carried out at a consistent, standard and acceptable 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 naturally 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.

The Deputy Chief is 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 paramedics while also ensuring a familiarity with existing standards.

Given the extraordinarily large geographic area of the district covered, approximately 48,000 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 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 Deputy Chief 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.