Framework for Expanding EMS System Capacity During Medical Surge
The Framework for Expanding EMS System Capacity During Medical Surge is a tool for community planners to help explore the role of EMS in medical surge planning and to examine the need to supplement existing guidance on integrating EMS into community preparedness plans. The Framework was developed from the input of EMS experts and stakeholders.
This EMS Framework addresses the partnerships, resources, and planning needed to implement four strategies for expanding EMS system capacity during an emergency resulting in medical surge:
- Tiered Dispatch: Strategies to preserve EMS resources, including caller screening to determine acuity, use of prerecorded messages to selectively direct calls, and referral of non-life-threatening calls to advice lines.
- Modified Treatment and Transport Strategies: Strategies to modify routine treatment and transport protocols to allow EMS personnel to assess, treat, release, and refer patients without transport and, when needed, to transport patients away from a hospital.
- Coordinated Transport to Alternate Destinations: Strategies to transport patients to facilities that do not traditionally receive 9-1-1 patients (e.g., clinics, urgent care, surgery centers, and alternate care sites) by establishing surge protocols.
- Support for Rapid Implementation of Patient Interventions: Strategies to allow EMS personnel to assist larger community and public health response efforts by delivering vaccines, pharmaceuticals, non-pharmaceuticals, and personal protective equipment (PPE) to both patients and caregivers at home.
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The Framework contains multiple chapters, all of which can be used in sequence or independently. It can be customized for your own community’s needs.
Questions?
Please contact the team at healthcareprepared@cdc.gov