Let`s Share Best Practices

     Most of the best ideas you will implement in your organization this year will not be original. You will hear about something superior—a new software tool, a unique twist on deployment, or a different approach to management, recruitment or billing—and you will adapt that solution to your organization. The idea may come from another EMS manager, but it may also come from out of the blue: a different industry, a late-night program on television or a video game your kid is playing. This is the concept of best practices. It's about continually identifying better solutions that work and applying them to your situation without having to reinvent the wheel. It's about leveraging what others have tried, experienced and done without having to build from scratch.

The Origin of Best Practices
     The formal use of the term "best practices" emerged out of the quality movement more than 20 years ago. In the 1970s and 1980s, American manufacturing (particularly electronics and auto making) was getting clobbered by Japanese corporations that produced products better, faster and cheaper. A 1980 NBC TV special report asked If Japan Can… Why Can't We? and suggested that America needed to learn from Japan's superior business practices or pay a big price. Almost overnight, American corporations began borrowing, copying and adapting Japanese practices that had been proven successful.

     When the concept of best practices was originally described, it was applied to manufacturing processes where it was necessary to identify what was best through a formal process of measurement and benchmarking. But as the idea migrated to service industries, government and healthcare, the concept broadened to the very practical, agile and commonsense practice of continually seeking the most efficient and effective way of accomplishing a task based on repeatable procedures that have proven themselves over time. Within specific industries, the sharing of best practices has enabled the entire industry to rapidly improve products and services.

NEMSMA's Mission
     Within the EMS industry, the National EMS Management Association (NEMSMA) has dedicated itself to improving the performance of EMS through the discovery, development and promotion of the best EMS management practices.

     NEMSMA's roots are also in the quality movement. In 1997, a group of EMS quality coordinators who were interested in sharing the tools of their craft formed the National Association of EMS Quality Professionals. From the outset, sharing good ideas, successes and failures was an important part of the group's mission. However, as the core leadership group and its successors advanced professionally beyond the realm of quality—becoming chiefs, directors and managers—the focus of the organization broadened as well. In 2003, the organization reinvented itself as NEMSMA, with a much broader vision, but with the same mission of sharing knowledge, skills and techniques to improve the management of EMS processes, organizations and systems.

     In 2006, NEMSMA began marketing itself to the entire EMS leadership and management community—regardless of size and agency affiliation—with the strong belief that all EMS customers benefit when EMS leaders and managers share best practices. Embracing the diversity of EMS in America and eschewing the claims that any single delivery model has proven itself superior, NEMSMA invites everyone to join in sharing ideas and best practices.

The Benefits of Membership
     Today, NEMSMA is a growing, vibrant organization with more than 1,000 members. The association has an active online community where members ask questions and gain the benefits of the experience of their colleagues from EMS organizations both large and small across the United States and Canada. When facing a policy question, the need for data or a model procedure, it is not uncommon for a member to have a dozen responses in his in-box within a day. Recent topics of discussion have included:

• Organized labor in EMS
• Hospital evacuations
• Conducting patient-injury investigations
• Performance appraisals
• Information systems and organizational dashboards
• Vehicle issues and vehicle-related lawsuits.

     Recognizing that not every EMS manager or leader can attend national conferences or formal schools, or have ready access to a mentor, NEMSMA seeks to be a resource for EMS managers whose time, budget or other constraints keep them from getting out much. With just an e-mail or a phone call, managers can reach out and touch a colleague who, by the very act of joining, has indicated his willingness to help.

     It's too late to reverse the manner in which EMS evolved in America and created an extremely diverse and sometimes contentiously divided EMS community, but it is not too late to leverage our entire industry's experiences into continually sharing best practices that benefit all.

Skip Kirkwood, MS, JD, EMT-P, is Chief of EMS for the Wake County (NC) Department of Public Safety, and serves on the National EMS Management Association's board of directors.

     For more information on NEMSMA, visit www.nemsma.org. NEMSMA is a sponsor of the Management Track at EMS EXPO 2008, October 15–17 in Las Vegas, NV. To register, visit www.emsexpo2008.com.