The role of emergency medical services in primary injury prevention. East Carolina Injury Prevention Program

Prehosp Emerg Care. 1997 Jul-Sep;1(3):156-62. doi: 10.1080/10903129708958810.

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, U.S. Gov't, Non-P.H.S.
  • Review

MeSH terms

  • Community-Institutional Relations
  • Emergency Medical Services / standards*
  • Health Knowledge, Attitudes, Practice
  • Health Promotion / organization & administration*
  • Humans
  • Interinstitutional Relations
  • Leadership
  • United States
  • Wounds and Injuries / prevention & control*