The System

Comment

Comment by Patrick Lickiss on July 20, 2010 at 6:56pm

I think that Mic brings up a great point, especially about the question of whether you can have "too many" paramedics. It might be interesting to look at the political and social implications of a BLS first responder agency going ALS or, more dramatically, an ALS agency going BLS. There's a lot of evidence in the literature to support the notion that ALS doesn't make a huge difference and ALS first response is a big cost!

Comment by Sam Bradley on April 2, 2010 at 1:27pm

It seems Chronicles is beginning to address these issues in comparing different EMS systems, then following through with discussion in "A Seat at the Table". Maybe Mic has captured the essence of what EMS 2.0 is all about. I remember that first episode of "Emergency" and still show it to my EMS students. - Sam

Comment by Thaddeus (@Setla) on April 2, 2010 at 11:32am

Mic,

I completely understand where you are coming from and without a doubt there is a need to address these issues and provide a great entertainment to allow it to sink in. We will be including your ideas here and I can't tell you how much I appreciate your input. Always insightful to hear from you!

~Thaddeus

Comment by Mic Gunderson on April 2, 2010 at 11:05am

Ted,

I'd like to see the show cover some aspects of EMS that are not typically covered in documentary or dramatizations about EMS, but have a huge impact on what happens every day. Maybe some political drama storylines along the lines of a 'West Wing' episode. It could address issues that are real current controversies in EMS - and serve to educate the public (and our colleagues) about the multiple sides of these issues. For example, look at budget crunch hitting a community with ensuring debates over how to save money. Explore all sides of the debate over changes in response time targets; can you have too many paramedics; consequences of hospital bypass and off-load delays causing problems in response to 9-1-1 cases and why hospitals might not be eager to solve the problem; dynamic vs. static deployment issues; the frequent flyers and some of the legitimate and not-so-legitmate reasons that happens; the why's and controversies behind dual response from fire and ambulance; Very interesting storylines could be built around these issues - and differentiate such a program from the 'easier' drama of pain suffering and gore that shows about EMS have tended to focus on in the past. Think back to the pilot episode of 'Emergency' and the political storyline behind passage of the Wendsworth-Townsend act to create paramedic systems in California. I'd like to see more depth in the characters
and stories than just running dramatic calls. That could be not only entertaining from dramatic series standpoint, it could become enlightening - and that's the brass ring I hope such a series would aspire to grab hold of!

--- Mic

Mic Gunderson
IPS