The role of emergency medical services in primary injury prevention. Consensus workshop. Arlington, Virginia, August 25-26, 1995

Ann Emerg Med. 1997 Jul;30(1):84-91. doi: 10.1016/s0196-0644(97)70116-1.

Abstract

Injury is a leading cause of death and disability. Preventing injuries from ever occurring is primary injury prevention (PIP). The objective of this statement is to present the consensus of a 16-member panel of leaders from the out-of-hospital emergency medical services (EMS) community on essential and desirable EMS PIP activities. Essential PIP activities for leaders and decision makers of every EMS system include: protecting individual EMS providers from injury; providing education to EMS providers in PIP fundamentals; supporting and promoting the collection and utilization of injury data; obtaining support for PIP activities; networking with other injury prevention organizations; empowering individual EMS providers to conduct PIP activities; interacting with the media to promote injury prevention; and participating in community injury prevention interventions. Essential PIP knowledge areas for EMS providers include: PIP principles; personal injury prevention and role modeling; safe emergency vehicle operation; injury risk identification; documentation of injury data; and one-on-one safety education.

Publication types

  • Consensus Development Conference
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Accident Prevention*
  • Accidents, Traffic / prevention & control
  • Clinical Competence
  • Emergency Medical Services*
  • Health Education
  • Health Promotion
  • Humans
  • Primary Prevention*
  • Wounds and Injuries / prevention & control*