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Various Aspects of Campus EMS |
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By Mark Milliron, NCEMSF Director at Large This article originally appeared: Journal of Pre-Med Studies, Winter 1998 Campus based Emergency Medical Services takes on many forms and service is provided at all levels. These include career employees working in advanced life support university hospital based EMS organizations, a mix of campus staff and students providing ALS and basic life support transport services, and student run all volunteer BLS and first responder services. Some serve just their campus, while others are the primary EMS provider for their community. Several universities operate trauma center based regional EMS with career pre-hospital clinical employees. Examples include Penn State Hershey University Hospital EMS, UCLA EMS, and University of Cincinnati University Mobile Care. Others operate career fire department based EMS organizations such as Clemson University Fire Department and EMS, Purdue University Fire Department, University of Alaska Fairbanks Fire Department, and Washington State University Fire Services.
Perhaps of greatest interest are the one hundred plus campus based EMS organizations that are primarily staffed by the students of their colleges and universities. These EMS squads are typically organized following one of three models. They include either independent student organizations, campus health services based squads, or campus security based organizations. Some, such as Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute Ambulance draw resources from all three models of organization. The student run organizations, with their authority to operate coming from student government, may include student EMS interest groups where their members make up a significant portion of the membership of the local volunteer EMS organization. An example of this is University EMS Division of the William Cameron Engine Company in the town of Lewisburg, Pennsylvania where Bucknell University is located. Here a student club forms an important core of EMS and fire service volunteers for the town fire and EMS department. Other student organizations actually operate campus based EMS services where students organize, conduct fund raising, purchase vehicles and supplies, conduct professional training, and conduct EMS operations. Brooklyn College Emergency Medical Squad, for example, is a student organization that operates a BLS transport ambulance and responds to several hundred calls a year. Many of the student organization based EMS squads are quick response units, such as the University of Massachusetts Amherst First Aid Services, that do not transport, but will have quick response volunteers on campus to provide emergency care until a transport unit arrives from off campus. One exception among these student volunteer organizations is UVM Rescue at the University of Vermont which is an independent organization that is a major regional advanced life support provider in the state in operation for over 25 years. Examples of EMS organized under universities’ public safety/police departments include Villanova EMS which is a transport ambulance service, and Emory First Responder Unit which is a non-transport quick response organization. Many of these organizations may have several university staff advisors or supervisors, but rely heavily on students to make up the bulk of their EMS staff. Similarly organized, with most EMS volunteers or part-time EMS employees coming from the student body, campus health service based EMS organizations are also typical. This is a particularly convenient model because of the availability of resources including staff physician medical direction, medical records accounting, and medically based quality assurance oversight. Schools with this type of campus EMS organization include Georgetown Emergency Response Medical Service (GERMS), Kent State University EMS, and Syracuse University EMS. A few campuses have specialized services, such as Colgate University First Response Squad which only does event standbys for the athletic department, Dartmouth Ski Patrol, and University of Virginia’s Blue Ridge Mountain Rescue Group. While each campus EMS squad is organized somewhat differently, one that might illustrate many of the components of a campus EMS organization is Penn State University EMS at the University Park campus. The University operates a state licensed BLS transport ambulance service and also provides EMS standby coverage up to the ALS level at events. The service is organized as a department of the University’s health center which employs three career EMS employees including an EMS manager and two paramedic supervisors. The consulting medical director is a University staff physician board certified in emergency medicine. The remainder of the EMS staff consists of approximately 40 students who are part-time EMT employees or volunteer EMTs. A few former students and non-student EMTs and paramedics are retained to supplement the staff during semester breaks and for event coverage. Students take significant leadership roles including ambulance service supervisor, training officer, volunteer/trainee supervisor, supply officer, events supervisors/incident commanders, etc. Penn State’s University Ambulance Service operates one BLS transport ambulance. It is primarily dispatched by the county 911 communications center and is one of the EMS stations within the county emergency response system. Back-up dispatching is through the University’s Police dispatch center. The service has a primary coverage area consisting of the campus where over 12,000 students reside, and it is the mutual aid service to the local town where another approximately 35,000 students reside. Approximately 600 emergency ambulance dispatches are handled annually by the service. The other aspect of campus based EMS is events standbys. Penn State EMS provides EMTs and standby ambulance services for nearly 300 events annually. These include football games at the University’s 97,000 seat stadium; basketball, other sporting events, concerts, and shows at the University’s 16,000 seat arena; smaller venue sporting events including volleyball, hockey, equestrian events, state high school level tournaments, and Pennsylvania Special Olympic games; and special events including banquets, festivals, and fairs. At its peak during football games, Penn State EMS employs several emergency room physicians from its two trauma centers (the Milton S. Hershey Medical Center and the Geisinger Medical Center) that provide on-site EMS command, four ALS squads, 16 BLS teams, two first aid stations, two BLS ambulances, one ALS ambulance, three golf carts, and two bike patrols. With 60-70 EMS providers on site, this may be a higher level of staffing than found at similarly sized professional sports venues. However, the fans attending Penn State Football games may include much more elderly alumni and others at higher risk than found among the attendees at professional sports events. It is not uncommon to see several cardiac arrests or cardiac symptoms, CVA, seizures, trauma from falls, alcohol overdose, illness, orthopedic injuries, and other medical problems amounting up to 25-30 separate incidents in one 4 hour football game. An additional function common to campus based EMS is education and training. Penn State EMS provides both professional continuing education and training as well as community EMS related courses. For professional training, Penn State EMS is certified by the state as a local EMS continuing education training site. The organization offers EMS continuing education credits and courses in Emergency Medical Technology, Basic Trauma Life Support, automatic defibrillator training, emergency vehicle operation, hazardous materials, and CPR. The EMS courses are also generally available to members of other local EMS organizations, and CPR is offered to the general public and to meet nursing students’ pre-clinical requirements. Advanced First Aid and the Emergency Medical Technician courses are also offered through the University as academic courses for credit. Many of the student involved with Penn State EMS are also instructors of these courses for the University. This is one school’s experience in providing a broad scope of EMS services to its campus and to the local community. Other schools may be organized differently and may provide specialized services to meet their schools’ particular needs. For more information on campus EMS see NCEMSF's contact information elsewhere on this Web site. Additional Reading:
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