Restructuring EMS Resource Management to Meet Community Needs

Emergency medical services (EMS) across the country are challenged with staffing deficiencies as population growth and call volume continue to rise, threating the operations of local agencies and the care they’re able to provide to those in their community. North Las Vegas, Nevada, is one of the fastest growing cities in the nation, and with staffing shortages projected to continue, the North Las Vegas Fire Department (NLVFD) turned to data to ensure its resources can meet patient demand today and into the future.

With a specific shortage of licensed paramedics throughout the department’s eight stations, NLVFD evaluated their response model using data housed in ImageTrend Elite™ to retrospectively review the proportion of ALS and BLS calls they responded to. Through this evaluation, NLVFD was able to form a better understanding of which calls require the response of a paramedic to triage what resources are being sent to certain calls and to help maximize current staffing levels.

“All our non-emergent psychiatric incidents are now handled by non-paramedic ambulances, which has increased the availability of our paramedic units,” NLVFD EMS Chief Frank Simone said for example. “Overall, we’ve reduced our paramedic ambulance responses by 30%, which has also reduced the workload of our paramedics by 3 hours a day per apparatus.”

With access to the data in the department’s ePCRs, NLVFD was able to move safely and effectively toward staffing additional ambulances with Advanced EMTs and providing alternative interventions to help reduce the rising call load on paramedic ambulances.