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Insights
by
Matt Zavadsky, MHA
"Insights" focuses on the implications of recent
news from around the world and it's impact on EMS nationally
and in your home town. |
Matt Zavadsky, MHA
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About the columnist: Matt is the Director of Tri-State
Ambulance, a not-for-profit subsidiary of the Gundersen Lutheran Healthcare System located in La Crosse, Wisconsin. Tri-State serves as the sole 9-1-1 advanced life support provider for the 2,200 square mile greater Coulee Region local in Western Wisconsin and Eastern Minnesota.
He holds a Masters Degree in Health Service Administration and has 25 years experience in EMS including volunteer, fire department, public and private sector EMS agencies. He is a former paramedic and has managed private sector ambulance services from 10,000 to more than 100,000 annual call volume in locations including Fairfield, Connecticut; Augusta, Georgia and Orlando, Florida. He has also served as a regulator in Lincoln, Nebraska and Volusia County (Daytona Beach), Florida.
Matt is a frequent speaker at national conferences and has done consulting in numerous EMS issues, specializing in high performance EMS system operations, public/media relations, public policy, employee recruitment and retention, data analysis, costing strategies and EMS research.
He has served as the American Ambulance Association as Chair of the Industry Image Committee and membership on the Professional Standards, Strategic Development and Management Training Institute Committees.
Matt is an Adjunct Faculty for the UCF's College of Health and Public Affairs teaching courses in Healthcare Economics and Policy, Ethics, Managed Care and US Healthcare Systems.
Why Are We Here?
What is our purpose as EMS providers here on the 3rd rock from the sun?? While the appropriate response to that question seems all to simple, the real answer is often lost in translation or perception.
Giving Back During the Holidays
A good friend of mine who recently retired as the Chief of the Daytona Beach Fire Department had the perfect banner in his office that read “If you love what you do, you’ll never work a day in your life.”
Preparing for Your Own Succession!
Dovetailing with his last article, Bench Strength in EMS?!, Matt Zavadsky has some great tips on preparing for your own professional succession.
Bench Strength in EMS?!
While attending and speaking at two national EMS conferences this summer, it occurred me that we have another looming crisis in our industry… The significant lack of “Bench Strength” in the EMS industry.
“Insights into the IOM Report - EMS at the Crossroads”
It's 1966 and the National Academy of Sciences/National Research Council’s publishes it’s infamous report - a publication that revolutionizes pre-hospital EMS.
Now, forty years later, the Institute of Medicine has released it’s landmark report on the state of emergency care in the United States.
Discussing the report with several colleagues, I’ve heard some incredible comments.
Airway Apoplexy??
If you've been in EMS long enough, you can trace your roots back to the days when you sat in complete awe as Johnny and Roy did amazing clinical feats in the dining rooms of fancy restaurants
Public Policy – 101
During a recent junket to our State’s Capitol on behalf of two well known and altruistic organizations, I was reminded of the conventional wisdom that there are two things you should not witness being made, sausage and laws (well, ok, there are actually three things you should not watch being made, but decorum prevents me from mentioning the third)…
‘Access’ to Care??
Time. It’s a commodity that EMS provider’s (and our patients) live or die by. Many things impact precious time, but recently the issue of lengthening delays at hospital emergency departments coupled with prolific hospital diversions have grabbed local and national attention. News headlines on http://www.emsnetwork.org/ abound with tragic stories of hospitals and EMS systems struggling with this national crisis.
New Year’s Resolutions for EMS Leaders
New Year’s resolutions - our annual effort to define the goals we plan (hope?)
to achieve in the coming year. It’s a practice steeped in tradition that
all too often ends in futility.
Data Dementia
You may recall that one of the first Insights column was the 'Road to Wisdom'. The column walked us through the steps of gaining wisdom starting with data, evolving to information, then knowledge and finally wisdom. Apparently, several of our EMS contemporaries either missed that discussion, or have simply chosen to ignore it.
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