EMS want to hear from you: 'We want to know what's working and what isn't'

Emergency Medical Services (EMS) is encouraging the public to share their views and opinions about the current state of the EMS system by completing an online survey that is running till April 8th, 2022. 

The survey is meant to be, in part, a springboard for strategic planning and implementation of a long-term Service Plan for EMS. Les Fisher, the Project Lead for Provincial EMS Service Planning, who presented a virtual presentation on the survey and the subsequent service plan said in his presentation that the survey will allow EMS to get a large swath of data sets, which will be distilled into various themes. There is also a quick poll that the public can access, which helps gauge what types of perspectives are being brought forward from the public. Thus far, 40 people have participated in the poll. It should be noted, the survey and poll are separate. 

AHS EMS is encouraging the public to come forward and share their opinions  

“With our current state, we want to know what's working because if there are some things that are working well, we don't want to change that; mess things up,” he said. "[Then] what sorts of things might be happening in the future that either might pose a challenge for us or that we might be able to take advantage of. Those are all going to be elements of our current state.” 

A part of the survey that AHS EMS is encouraging the public to participate in

The survey is the second stage in the EMS Service Plan which will culminate with a deadline of September 30th, 2022. At that time the EMS Service Plan will be delivered to the Health Minister. 

“The plan needs to recommend how to schedule the growth or improvements and changes that happen since we recognize that they can't all be done at once. We're at the first stage of this in terms of getting a solid understanding of our current state.” 

Fisher said that the most pressing challenges today include 911 event volume, delays in transferring patients in emergency departments, as well as staffing. When it comes to the call volume, AHS EMS has said numerous times that there has been an uptick of as much as 30 per cent in calls. 

“We saw when COVID-19 first hit, there was a bit of a reduction in our 9-11 event volume. In more recent months, we've seen our 9-11 event volume go up as much as 30 per cent and it's been sustained at that over what we were [at during] our pre-pandemic levels.” 

The increase in call volume, however, isn’t just related to COVID-19. Fisher also cited the fact that inter-facility transfer volume was also initially down during the COVID-19 pandemic, however, it has now increased to pre-pandemic levels. 

“We certainly anticipate that once the elective surgeries start getting brought back, our inter-facility transfer volume is anticipated to decline; either stay at pre-pandemic levels or climb above those. Our emergency departments have been a challenge for us in terms of the delays in transferring care of patients.” 

Previously, Discover Airdrie requested the time that Airdrie EMS Units spend in Off Load Delay or Transfer of Care Status via a Freedom of Information and Protection of Privacy Act.  

Off Load Delay, according to The National Library of Medicine, “occurs when the care of incoming ambulance patients cannot be transferred immediately from paramedics to staff in a hospital emergency department (ED).”  

Between January 2021 and January 2022, Airdrie EMS units spent a total of 1,186.26 hours due to Off Load Delay. The longest time recorded was in June of 2021, with a total of 122.4 hours recorded for the month, while the second-highest time recorded was in December of 2021, with 121.39 hours recorded. When it came to Transfer of Care, between that same time period Airdrie EMS Units spent 670.33 hours in Transfer of Care duties, with November 2021 being the highest, with 73.73 hours recorded.

Fisher also made note that staffing challenges, like many other challenges within EMS, have had a cascading effect. 

“Staffing challenges: our staff retired. I just spoke just earlier about a 30 per cent increase in call volume and that's with the same number of staff, staff who are getting sick, staff who have been injured, either physically or emotionally through the work that we do,” Fisher said. “That becomes a real challenge for our staff if we don't have 100 per cent staffing and the call volume is up; that increases their workload, so our staff, no doubt are getting tired.” 

According to the video presentation by Fisher, EMS staff respond to about 589,500 events per year. According to EMS, there are approximately 3500 people who respond to calls in communities, with another and then 2400 contracted staff, for a total of 5900 staff that serve over 4 million people in the province.  

“We divide that by the 365 days of the year we get to the 1521 requests for service per day. That's one Albertan requesting service from EMS every 53 seconds, 365 days of the year,” Fisher said. 

Fisher said the intent of the service plan is for it to be aspirational and feasible. 

“We want to think big; we want to think positive. We want to be the best that we can be. It also needs to be realistic and financially responsible and I don't think that those are mutually exclusive attributes of a plan.” 

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