Is ambulance safety a concern or focal point in your organization? We fully support that! ZOLL is committed to improving ambulance safety in the EMS community by sponsoring four eLearning courses (worth 1 Commission on Accreditation for Pre-Hospital Continuing Education (CAPCE) credit per hour) on demand via the EMS1 Safety Academy. Which means you can take them when it’s convenient for you! Oh, and did I mention that it’s free?

These 60-minute courses will provide a framework to help build a culture of safety within your organization. Each course includes:

• Course instructions
• Course sections
• Knowledge-check quizzes
• Final exam

To find a course, or courses, that are right for you, check out the descriptions below.

Leading a High-Performing Ambulance Team

Statistics are painting a dangerous trend while operating ambulances. How, as ambulance providers, can this trend be reversed and provide patients and staff with a safe environment? Go beyond the statistics and take a close look at two facets of ambulance safety; the vehicle and the driver.

This will cover the various ways in which leadership can build a safe and high-performing ambulance team, with lessons that focus on:

• Safety leadership
• Safety training
• Human risk factors when hiring
• The different threats your organization might face as well as their costs
• And the tools and resources available to avoid accidents and fatalities

At the end of the lesson you will be able to:

• Explain the current state of EMS Safety in the United States
• Determine best practices for setting up a culture of safety
• List the costs, risks and threats to your organization if you do not build a strong training approach

Lights & Sirens: Deadly Epidemic

Emergency response can be depicted in one clear image: an ill or injured patient calls 911 and a shiny ambulance speeds through the streets, lights flashing and sirens blaring, telling everyone that it’s on its way to help someone in trouble. What many people don’t consider is the staggering number of EMS fatalities that can occur as a result of speeding ambulances with blaring sirens and flashing lights.

In this course you will discover the deadly epidemic of lights and sirens abuse and how EMS organizations can employ various strategies for gaining and maintaining a safety culture as well as the public trust.

At the end of the lesson you will be able to:

• Identify the epidemic of lights and sirens abuse
• Summarize case study conclusions that show lights and sirens use doesn’t decrease transport time
• Illustrate how to maintain the public’s trust by educating a diverse audience on light and siren

The Culture of Ambulance Safety

Data has shown that a lack of safety culture in any organization often costs more than just money. Organizations must ask themselves whether the life of their employees is as important as the potential costs of training them.

This course is designed to enhance your ability to identify the importance of implementing safety behaviors within an ambulance organization and making permanent changes that encourage a foundation of safety.

In this course your organization will gain insight into the ways and means of developing a culture of safety by acknowledging the issues of:

• Professionalism
• The need for evidence and incentive-based practices,
• And the importance of making positive behavioral shifts in your organization

At the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Identify the components of a safety culture
• Determine best practices for setting up a culture of safety
• Develop incentive-based practices for maintaining a safety culture within your organization

Ambulance Safety Design

The majority of the death and injuries in EMS occur in the patient compartment. What is contributing to these frightening statistics? Is the design a contributing factor or is the culture of safety non-existent to EMS personnel when they step into an ambulance?

This course will inform you about historical as well as modern designs for ambulance vehicles throughout the world. With a primary goal of safety, organizations across nations have developed stringent guidelines that evaluate human and other risk factors so that the future of ambulances will be able to amend flaws and encourage the safety of both practitioners and patients.

At the end of this lesson you will be able to:

• Summarize the history of ambulances
• Explain the changes in modern day ambulances to keep patients safe
• Recognize the solutions that Zoll Data provides to help ambulances become safer.

Editor's Note: This blog post was originally published in December 2017.