NIST Deployment Report on EMS Field Experiments
This study investigates the effects of varying
crew configurations for first responders, the apparatus assignment
of ALS personnel, and the number of ALS personnel on scene on
the task completion times for ALS level incidents. The results and conclusions will
directly inform the NFPA 1710 and NFPA 1720 Technical
Committees, who are responsible for developing industry
operational and deployment standards.
This report presents the results of more than 102 field
experiments designed to quantify the effects of various fire
department-based EMS deployment configurations for three
different scenarios:
- Patient access and removal from the
incident scene
- A victim of systemic trauma due to a long-distance fall
- A patient with chest pain leading to a cardiac
arrest
In addition to systematically controlling for arrival times
of units, first responder crew size was varied to consider two-,
three-, and four-person staffing. ALS personnel configuration for
both the first responder unit and ambulance transport unit were
also varied for purposes of the experiments.
In each deployment,
personnel performed a series of defined tasks consistent with the
scenario being evaluated. Report results quantify the effectiveness
of crew size, ALS configuration, and the number of ALS personnel
on the start, duration, and completion time of all tasks delineated
in the three scenarios. Conclusions are drawn from statistically
significant results.