Dr Jeff Jarvis joins Rob Lawrence to discuss the recently released National EMS Quality Alliance (NEMSQA) Measures Report – “Enhancing airway management one measure at a time.”
The report begins with the following robust Foreword: “NEMSQA is not satisfied with the state of airway management safety in EMS. As you will see, the data clearly shows that we can do much better across our industry!
Partnering with experts and EMS agencies around the country, NEMSQA is leading the second national EMS Quality Improvement Partnership (EQuIP), the Airway Management Collaborative to put the new NEMSQA airway measures to work.”
“Enhancing airway management one measure at a time” is the sequel to the Lights and Siren Collaborative and will utilize the Institute for Healthcare Improvement’s Breakthrough Series collaborative model. The goal of the project is to support national improvement in the safety and effectiveness of invasive airway management by focusing on two goals:
- Reducing the adverse events, such as peri-intubation hypoxia and hypotension
- Improving the use of waveform capnography to confirm and monitor all invasive airways
Rob and Dr. Jarvis discuss the report and actions individuals and their agencies should take to improve their personal and organizational airway management and patient outcome results.
Resources
Notable quotes
“I know this is going to be revolutionary to you … but in order to measure pulse oximetry, the pulse ox probe needs to be on the patient! And in EMS, we very frequently dislodge those things, they fall off, and when they are on the stretcher you are not getting valid data.” — Dr. Jeff Jarvis
“The biggest enemy of better is the desire for perfection.” — Dr. Jeff Jarvis
“We all think we are the best ‘intubator’ until we look at our data – none of us showed up for work this morning because we didn’t want to do a good job. All of us want to do the best we can for our patients; when we see the data, all of us want to improve.” — Dr. Jeff Jarvis
Timeline
00:45 – Dr. Jeff Jarvis introduces the NEMSQA Report
2:00 – The Core foundations of improvement science
03:00 – NEMSIS data as the basis of research
06:00 – Airway 01
08:15 – Airway 05
09:50 – Airway 20
12:30 – Respiratory 01
13:32 – Respiratory 02
14:00 – Airway 24
17:00 – Key learning points and discussion on first pass success and documentation
20:00 – Getting the basics right
21:30 – Key Take Away 1: Work with your data
23:30 – Key Take Away 2: Better prepare your patient (position, adquately pre-oxygeneate)
25:30 – Key Take Away 3: Have a protocol or checklist in a goal
26:00 – Key Take Away 4: Transparency in your performance – share the performance of your organization with the clinicians doing the interventions
26:30 – Key Take Away 5: Utilize best practices – Such as the NEMSQA airway quality improvement collaborative
28:03 – Calling out the NEMSQA team and researchers
29.30 – Final thoughts
ABOUT DR. JARVIS
Dr. Jeff Jarvis is the chief medical officer and system medical director for the Metropolitan Area EMS Authority in Fort Worth, Texas. He is the host of The EMS Lighthouse Project Podcast in which he reviews the scientific evidence that guides our EMS practice. Dr. Jarvis began his career in EMS over 30 years ago and remains a licensed paramedic today. His research interests include airway management and clinical performance measures. He is a proud father to two wonderful kids, husband of 33 years and a loyal Aggie.
ABOUT NEMSQA
The National EMS Quality Alliance (NEMSQA) is the nation’s leader in the development and endorsement of evidence-based quality measures for EMS. Formed in 2019, NEMSQA is an independent non-profit organization comprised of stakeholders from national EMS organizations, federal agencies, EMS system leaders and providers, EMS quality improvement and data experts as well as those who support prehospital care with the goal to improve EMS systems of care, patient outcomes, provider safety and well-being on a national level.
