Take Advantage of EMS Continuing Education Opportunity

The IAFF is contacting affiliate leaders regarding the International’s partnership with National Paramedic Institute to offer EMS continuing education opportunities. National Paramedic Institute’s online training http://www.emsjane.com brings IAFF locals and their fire departments cutting-edge EMS training through a “one-stop training” approach.

Medic Monthly, the online video streaming training series, provides a no-nonsense approach to the critical training needs facing fire-based EMS providers and case-based scenarios that illustrate the clinical issues facing EMS professionals today. Recent case-based module topics have included Carbon Monoxide and Club Drugs.

Medic Monthly is the only EMS continuing education series that is both directed and managed by a practicing EMS physician, Dr. Steven Katz., one of the authors of the newly released Fire Service-Based EMS whitepaper and a medical director for Palm Beach County Fire Rescue in south Florida. He is also medical director for the Florida Professional Firefighters (FPF).

In addition to the case-based Medic Monthly series, the NPI web site http://www.emsjane.com also offers a variety of course offerings to support fire-based EMS training needs, including case-based online ACLS and CPR recertification, online EKG refresher training, IFSTA Firefighting Refresher Training, Masimo Online Carbon Monoxide Training and the entire suite of IAFF online education and training products.

“The IAFF has long worked to assure our members are equipped with the information and tools necessary to promote and support fire-based EMS systems,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger. “Our partnership with NPI allows us to offer continuing education opportunities online so they are accessible to all IAFF members with EMS credentials.”

The IAFF encourages all local presidents to work with their fire departments to purchase a departmental subscription to NPI for all of its fire fighters/EMTs and paramedics as part of its fire-based EMS initiative. All fire departments affiliated with an IAFF local receive a $10 per person per year discount when subscribing.

For more information, National Paramedic Institute at (800) 671-9411.

Fire Act Funds Study to Help Fire Departments Assess and Respond to Risks

The U.S. Department of Homeland Security Assistance to Firefighters Grant program (FIRE Act) has awarded a second grant of $1 million to five top fire research organizations to continue to develop tools to help local fire departments better assess the risks in their local communities and plan to respond to them more effectively and efficiently.

The three-year study, conducted jointly by the Commission on Fire Accreditation International (CFAI), the International Association of Fire Chiefs (IAFC), the International Association of Fire Fighters (IAFF), the National Institute of Standards and Technology (NIST) and Worcester Polytechnic Institute (WPI), establishes a technical basis for risk evaluation and deployment of resources by local fire departments. The project will create tools to better assess risks and hazards; plan for adequate resource deployment to respond to and mitigate emergency events; and measure effectiveness in responding to and handling events.

“In bringing together recognized experts in the fire and EMS industry, we can ensure that the result will be a comprehensive, validated assessment model that will serve the fire service for many years,” says IAFF General President Harold Schaitberger.

“This is a study many fire industry leaders have dreamed of for several years,” says Chief Dennis Compton of the International Fire Service Training Association (IFSTA) and a technical advisor to the project. “Until now, it has simply not been possible, due to the complexity of the tasks proposed and the costs involved.

In Phase I of the three-phase study, fire scientists are developing and testing mathematic models representing risks, fire movement and various interventions for mitigating a fire or EMS event. Phase II will focus on collecting hazard and response measurements that will form the technical basis for the model. Phase III will be devoted to validating and beta-testing software for accuracy and ease-of-use.

Once complete, the new software will be re-released through CFAI. Those using the original version of VISION risk software will receive updates as they become available.

For more information or to sign up to participate in the study, click here. http://www.firereporting.org or contact Dr. Lori Moore-Merrell at (202) 824-1594 or lmoore@iaff.org