Posted 7/25/08: The next meeting of the Florida Dept. of Health EMS Advisory Council will be held in Naples on Friday, Oct. 3, from 9 a.m. to 12 noon. Please click here to see more information on the meeting.

Posted 6/24/08: The American College of Emergency Physicians recently approved a position statement regarding the expanded role of EMS personnel. Click here to read the new ACEP position.

Posted 5/6/08: Click here to see a Bureau of EMS Special Bulletin on the Distribution of Cyanokits. Update: Final Cyanokit Prehospital Care Protocol Template available by clicking here. Also, you can get Cyanokit  Cyanokit Prescribing Information here.

Posted 4/28/08:  Click here to see Dr. David Caro's presentation on Prehospital Airway Management.

Posted 4/28/08: FAEMSMD President Michael Lozano appeared on local television in Tampa recently. Click here to view the segment.

Posted 4/1/08: Download a power point presentation on ICE (Induced Cooling by EMS). You must have Microsoft Power Point installed on your computer to properly view. Simply right click this link and choose 'save target as' to download to your computer. This is a large file and may take a few minutes to download.

Posted 4/1/08: A draft schedule for the upcoming state EMS meetings in Cocoa Beach April 16-17 are available here (in PDF format). Also, the host hotel can be found here. Just Added: Dr. David Caro will be presenting a lecture on airway management at the state EMS meetings.

Posted 2/15/08: The FDA has issued an advisory instructing healthcare professionals and patients to limit the use of Baxter's multi-dose heparin vials, and to switch to other sources of the drug due to reports of severe allergic reactions and hypotension associated with Baxter's product. Baxter also announced that it is temporarily suspending production of multi-dose vials of heparin as it "works to determine the cause of the increase in adverse reactions." Click here for more information on this story.

Posted 2/11/08: Bureau of EMS Special Bulletin: Department of Health Mission: Promote, protect and improve the health of all people in Florida

On January 25, 2008, the EMS Advisory Council approved the Emergency Medical Review Committee (EMRC) Plan. The EMRC will provide a mechanism for statewide EMS data analysis review for the purpose of statewide quality improvement. The Bureau of EMS is now tasked with recommending to the State Surgeon General eight qualified nominees to fulfill the duties and obligations of this committee.

You may submit your nomination by completing the EMRC nomination questionnaire. Send completed nomination questionnaires to Steve_McCoy@doh.state.fl.us. The deadline for nominations will be March 14, 2008 at 5:00 P.M., EST.

 

Posted 2/8/08: Power Point presentation - "The Survival Rate from Witnessed Ventricular Fibrillation Out-of-Hospital Cardiac Arrest is Superior with Passive Oxygen Insufflation Compared to Active Bag-Valve-Mask Ventilation" is now available online by clicking here.

Posted 1/24/08: Click here to see the latest version of the Florida Department of Health, Bureau of EMS strategic plan

Posted 1/22/08: The Kentucky Chapter of ACEP was awarded a grant to create a web based EMS Medical Director's Certification Course. While, in the end, there were not enough funds to make the course web-based, it is available on-line for Kentucky EMS MDs. Dr. Lozano invites you to look at the course curriculum and comment on it relative to how it might relate to a Florida EMS MD Certification Course.

To access the course, click on this link

Posted 1/22/08: Click here to see a pdf chart on the distribution of stroke centers throughout the state of Florida.

Minutes: Click here for minutes from the Oct. 11, 2007 Board Meeting

Posted 1/22/08: There are bills in the Florida House and Senate regarding Automated External Defibrillators (AEDs). These bills revise provisions relating to the maintenance of and training requirements for the use of automated external defibrillators. Read about Senate Bill SB 564 here. Read about House Bill HB0243 here.

Reminder: The next meeting of the FCEP EMS/Trauma Committee will take place from 8-9 a.m. on February 20, at the FCEP staff office in Orlando.

Posted 11/21/07: Reminder - the Jan. 23-25 EMS Meetings are quickly approaching! Be sure to reserve your hotel room as soon as possible. Click here for more information.

Posted 10/31/07: Click Here to read the International Fire Chiefs Association's 2007 report on the effects of sleep deprivation on fire fighters and EMS responders (Note: Must have Adobe acrobat reader installed to open this report).