EMS OVERVIEW

		EMS TRAINING CENTER OF SOUTHERN NEVADA

THE "STAR OF LIFE" HAS SIX POINTS ON IT, EACH ONE REPRESENTING A PORTION OF THE EMS CARE CHAIN.
1.DETECTION
2.REPORTING
3.RESPONSE
4.SCENE CARE
5.CARE IN TRANSIT
6.TRANFER TO "DEFINITIVE CARE"

Although the EMS system that we know today is relatively new, there has been a need for rapid medical services since the beginning of man. What we know today as the Emergency Medical Services system (or EMS) was actually created around 1966.

In 1966 the "National Academy of Sceinces"' "National Research Council" conducted an evaluation of the emergency services both at the prehospital and the hospital levels. The findings of the report were that the Emergency Services system was in need of serious help.

This report caused the National Department of Transportation to design a cirriculum for the training of EMT'S and also mandated that there be a certification in providing CPR, basic splinting, immobilization, delivery of oxygen to patients and caring of wounds. EMT's were the first providers of "certified prehospital care".

The role of the EMT went mostly unnoticed by the general public until in 1971, Jack Webb launched a television show titled "EMERGENCY".

At this point the public was thrust into the world of the EMT through watching two Paramedics of the Los Angeles County Fire Department deliver prehospital emergency care. Although there was the "Hollywood spin" on the show, the day to day operations, triumphs and struggles of the EMT were realistically portrayed.

The EMS system has continued to evolve over the last thirty-plus years. Technology has driven instruments that could only be found in the hospital setting to become mobile and durable enough to be used "in the field". Science has developed new medications geared for the emergency prehospital care provider. All of this coupled with the constant training, continuing concern and caring for the sick and injured has undoubtably saved countless lives.