Superman's view on Evidence Based Practices

Superman's view on Evidence Based Practices

January 15, 2014

By Alan Perry

Sometimes I feel like Superman in kryptonite turnout gear, I see all the great opportunities and ideas go buy, recognize them and try to get others interested, but utterly fail to make an impact. I point to stated organization mission & values statements, studies proving these “best practices” and identify ways to make them happen, and don’t even get a response. Perhaps it is my communication style, or perhaps I’m just not “allowed” to come up with those ideas, or make those types of decisions.

So now that I have vented, let me try (real hard) to say this in the way a chief officer should.

Our department and perhaps the fire service in general, have entered a new era in the provision of both Fire and EMS services. We are now regularly bombarded with new evidence based practices which are sometimes foreign to our existing way of thinking about and doing our job. Change in any large organization is usually difficult to manage and we are no different, the change must be managed in a controlled and thoughtful way. A real challenge at this point is managing these changes thoughtfully even though many of the changes themselves are undergoing refinements of their own, kind of like trying to hit a moving target. We are tempted to simply wait until the target stops moving, however I fear that may not be realistic and the fact of the matter is the longer we wait to begin making any real change the further we will be from meeting our obligation to our citizens.

EMS public education, Hands-Only CPR, Public Access Defibrillator programs and Community Paramedicine are all excellent examples of programs that both Fire and EMS agencies have yet to fully implement, if they have considered them at all. Many of these programs have been around for 10 years or more and have proven benefits with many working examples from which to draw information and implementation clues. Extensive new studies on these new practices are rarely warranted and merely waste time and money that could be used to get the stretcher rolling. Take a look at your organizations public messages like “progressive”, “responsive” and “caring”, are we truly living up to our billing?

The public may be happily ignorant of the circumstances we find ourselves in, it will only take one bad outcome, properly investigated and publicized, to educate the public and bring them to the intelligent conclusion that change is needed now. Questions will be asked, excuses may be given. Will you be able to say that we have done everything possible to equip our organization and staff to provide the best evidence based care possible?

Be safe,

Alan