S3E2 - EMS CQI: Handling the Difficult Employee

In today's fast paced EMS system, the medical director plays a critical role in ensuring patient care is up to snuff. But what do you do when your medical director is missing in action or does not give good direction? Medical directors are people too, and they grapple with dealing with the human condition the same as everyone else.   Join Paul and Kevin for a discussion on the importance of active medical direction and how to get your medical director to engage in a constructive manner. 

The staffing crisis in EMS is impacting patient care on multiple levels and is not likely to abate any time soon. Paul and Kevin discuss how the crisis is impacting patient care and what you can do about it to minimize the negative impact. 

Every EMS agency uses its ePCR data to make CQI and management decisions. But how accurate is that data and could it be leading you astray in your CQI efforts? Paul and Kevin discuss the significant challenges associated with using your ePCR data in the CQI process. Find out where your data may be falling short in this episode of The G&A Way. 

Most EMS CQI programs spend most of their time looking for what went wrong on a call. If you really want to turbocharge your CQI program, dive deeper and get to the “Why”.  Errors occur for many reasons but to truly fix an issue, having a complete and thorough understanding of Why something occurred allows you to create a more meaningful and impactful solution. Get to the root cause of your agency’s CQI issues by understanding the Why. In this episode Paul and Kevin discuss why providers do what they do, how to get them to open up about the real challenges they had on a call, and why understanding the Why results is a better CQI process.

Paul and Kevin discuss the challenges of performing CQI with providers who are difficult to work with. Learn how to identify these individuals and what you can do to gain their trust and improve their patient care.

Many agencies use a "round robin" style of CQI in their EMS CQI program. What is "round robin" you ask? And is this the right fit for your organization? Paul and Kevin explain what the round robin style of CQI is, and what things you may want to consider before employing this type of process. 

Bias in your EMS CQI program can be a quality killer. Even agencies with the best of intentions have some degree of bias in it, that’s just human nature. There are ways however to minimize the effects of bias on your process that will enhance your efforts and minimize the complaints and dissatisfaction that come with a biased CQI program. In this episode, Paul and Kevin discuss how bias can negatively impact your patient care quality and what to do about it.

While not sexy, sepsis is a common and potentially life-threatening condition. Do your field providers understand sepsis and does your CQI process recognize missed sepsis treatment opportunities? In this episode, Paul and Kevin discuss the challenges providers have in recognizing and treating sepsis, and what CQI managers need to be on the lookout for to prevent negative patient outcomes.

In this episode, Paul and Kevin speak with guest Jerry Bardwell on how to perform an audit of an EMS run report for CQI purposes. Understanding how to “read between the lines” can provide valuable insight into whether a call was performed to perfection, or whether there is room for improvement. You won’t want to miss this episode.

Many providers still do not bring all their equipment to the patient’s side despite regulatory bodies attempts to change this practice. In this episode Paul and Kevin discuss why it is important to do, how to identify if this is an issue, and how to find and fix cases where providers fail to do so.