SMEMSIC Email News & Information
In This Issue: February 1, 2008 
•   58th Professional Development Conference Fast Approaching
•   EMS Education Agenda for the Future
•   EMS Pioneer To Be Honored
•   Forms and Publications for EMS
•   EMS Scope of Practice
58th Professional Development Conference Fast Approaching
We welcome you to attend the Society of Michigan EMS Instructor Coordinators 58th Professional Development Conference, “Pride or Passion”, which will be held February 28 - March 2, 2008. The conference will be held at the Grand Traverse Resort & Conference Center in Traverse City, Michigan. Presentations at the conference will focus on ways that quality instructors involve their students in the educational process while ensuring that passion for teaching is not overshadowed by pride in the instructors abilities or accomplishments. We hope you can come to Traverse City and network with your peers as we explore the benefits of "Pride or Passion" in the EMS classroom. There is still time to register and you may click on the link below for additional information.

Click here for conference information

58th PDC
EMS Pioneer To Be Honored
A woman who was instrumental in training paramedics, police officers, and hospital personnel will be posthumously honored at a gathering in Grand Rapids, Michigan. Candace Otte-Ingram, R.N., died last spring from complications of heart surgery. In the late 1960’s, Candy Otte, R.N., an ICU nurse, and her cardiologist colleague C. Mark Vasu, M.D., began teaching the then-new technique of CPR to physicians and nurses in area hospitals. Otte and Vasu later created a training program for ambulance attendants and police officers, which over the next two decades evolved into a nationally-recognized paramedic training program. Otte spent much of her professional life teaching in West Michigan and lending her expertise to the State of Michigan in the design of rules, regulations, and licensure exams for pre-hospital care providers. She also traveled overseas to help emerging countries improve pre-hospital care. A gathering of Otte’s friends, colleagues, and former students is scheduled for March 8, 2008 at Grand Valley State University’s Richard M DeVos Center, 401 W. Fulton Street, Grand Rapids, MI. The Candace Otte Scholarship for Nursing has been established at Grand Valley State University to create a lasting memorial to honor Otte’s life and achievements. Those whom would like to honor Candy’s memory with a donation to this scholarship may do so by contacting Grand Valley State University at 616.331.6000 or email to giveto@gvsu.edu. For further information or if you wish to attend the gathering, you may contact Fran Sherman or Lynn Zimmerman at fssherman@hotmail.com.

EMS Scope of Practice
Over the last few weeks there has been a great deal of discussion in regards to the National EMS Scope of Practice. This may be primarily due to a deadline for input on the National EMS Education Standards, which is another document onto itself. Presently there is a “Standards” workgroup, coordinated by MDCH EMS, reviewing this document, collating agreed upon suggested changes and will be forwarding these to the national “Project Team”. A little background may be helpful. There are a few key elements that are being developed (or have been) that came out of the “EMS Education Agenda for the Future” published in 1996 by NHTSA (National Highway Transportation and Safety Administration). There is an article on our news page that details many of the key elements of the scope of practice and the issue that are being discussed. There are a lot of unanswered questions in regards to the implications for adopting or not adopting the “Scope of Practice”. As these questions are answered each organization will then be able to make their recommendation to MDCH as to adopt the “Scope of Practice” or not. Until then try not to jump to conclusions with out the facts. Decisions and opinions based on fiction need to be avoided. You may click on the SMEMSIC logo to the right to post comments on our forums.

Click here to read the full article

EMS Education Agenda for the Future
In this same newsletter David Maatman co-authored an article with Bob Cesario on the “Scope of Practice” and the “Standards” which are components of the “EMS Education Agenda for the Future: A Systems Approach” or the “Agenda” for short. All attempts of keeping to the facts were made; personal opinions and interpretations were avoided as to not cloud the facts. Here are a couple of facts: The “National EMS Scope of Practice Model” and the “National EMS Core Content” are done, finished, completed not in draft form already gone to press. The “National EMS Education Standards” is in the form of DRAFT Version 2.” format. These documents are components of the “EMS Education Agenda for the Future: A Systems Approach” which I will refer to as the “Agenda”. In reviewing the “Scope of Practice”, “Core Content”, “Standards”, an “Executive Summary” of the “Standards” and discussions with others David Maatman provides observations and interpretations that are included in the full article. Please click on the link below to read the full article which should generate spirited discussion at the Spring IC Conference.

Click here to read the full article.

Forms and Publications for EMS
As you may have noticed, we no longer have copies of State forms for EMS education on our web site. The State has requested that all organizations remove any copies of forms from their web sites so that there will not be a problem with old forms being available after the State makes updates and releases new forms. Copies of forms for EMS education can be obtained directly from the MDCH web site at the link below.

Click here to view forms on the MDCH site

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