On March 16th the Office of EMS released an update to the state Scope of Practice Procedure and Medication Formulary documents. Several items have now been identified as “Red Dot” or Advanced Practice items, and will require EMS Providers receive additional training before they are allowed to perform those procedures or use those medications after the July 1, 2022 effective date. This change applies to EMS Providers at every level. Each provider must have post-affiliation documentation of approved training that is maintained in their individual files at their agency, in which the EMS Physician specifically includes/limits which Advanced Practice procedure/medication the provider is allowed to perform/use; if a provider is affiliated with multiple agencies, they must have post-affiliation documentation in each file at each agency. A draft of the new REMS Council Patient Care Protocol Clinical Procedures and Medication Tables are attached, and they include these new Advanced Practice changes. The affected Patient Care Protocols, and the Procedure and Medication Formularies on the REMS Council
website and AccessMeCare app will be updated on July 1 when the changes take effect.
Several decisions have been left up to the individual EMS Physicians for each Agency, such as who is allowed to perform the training, what constitutes additional training for each procedure/medication, and how often that training must be completed. However, in an effort to have universal documentation that meets the state requirements, the Rappahannock Regional Office of EMS has created templates (attached) that may be used to track provider training for these items. These documents have been left in word format so agencies may add their agency identifiers, select/deselect specific items, etc.
Agencies may provide the required training internally or providers may attend training at REMS, which has been approved by the regional Medical Direction Committee. Training will be available on the following dates in an effort to meet the July 1st deadline, then on a quarterly basis moving forward to capture new providers, providers who change levels, etc. The regional Medical Direction Committee has agreed to accept the attached documentation templates and associated procedure/medication training at REMS. Providers must pre-register for training at REMS; the listings will be available for registration on the REMS website at remscouncil.org/events/ beginning next week. Sessions may be cancelled due to low enrollment so sign up early!
• June 1, 1300-1700
• June 6, 0800-1200
• June 7, 1300-1700
• June 25, 0800-1200
• June 26, 0800-1200 & 1300-1700
If providers are unable to obtain training for a particular Advanced Practice procedure/medication by the July 1 deadline, then they are no longer able to perform/administer that procedure/medication. If Agencies feel they will be unable to meet the July 1 deadline, they are able to submit a variance request to Ron Passmore, Director of Regulation and Compliance Enforcement Division, at the Office of EMS.
Should you have any questions or concerns, please feel free to contact Kelsey Rideout at 540-373-0249, or [email protected]. We welcome your comments or other feedback on how to serve you better. Thank you for your professionalism and dedication to the regional EMS system.
