Editors` Expressions: Still Your Partner in the Field

"Editors' Expressions" is a recurring feature in which the EMS World editorial staff ruminates on current news, noteworthy events and everyday happenings with relevance to healthcare and EMS delivery. Feel free to react in the comment box below or e-mail editor@emsworld.com.

Cardiovascular, Trauma, Medical, Operations… CPR, ACLS, PALS, PHTLS… These are just a few of the categories and courses in prehospital continuing education (CE, yet another in the alphabet soup of EMS acronyms) that many of us must complete to continue to practice prehospital care and maintain our certifications. But completing these courses and the dozens of hours of CE over the past several months has been all but impossible in traditional in-person ways due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

To their great credit, during this time bodies such as state departments of health, the NREMT, and the AHA, among many others, have been sympathetic to our cause. They have temporarily extended certification dates beyond their original expirations, made their education more accessible through online learning, and suspended limitations on distributive education. But in the end we still need to be educated. We must remain abreast of the most recent advances in our field and we must adapt and overcome to achieve this objective. 

For many of us, times have been tough. Whether your call volume has spiked or plummeted, all of us have been affected. Though we've recently seen a significant drop in COVID cases since the peak, in some states we're witnessing a rise with the relaxation of stay-at-home orders. For this reason I remind you to keep your eyes on the prize. I implore you to continue to appropriately don and doff your PPE, even as the heat of summer kicks in. Remain vigilant about potential contact from our patients. And one another.

For this and many other reasons we at EMS World will be making an important announcement soon regarding EMS World Expo. In these unforeseen times we must find unique ways to educate ourselves and our colleagues. As leaders in the EMS space, we must blaze the trail to provide meaningful, engaging, and socially distant continuing education to EMS providers around the world.  

We understand the obstacles you face—among them budget cuts, travel restrictions, and concern for your health and the health of your family. We're completing our plan to address these concerns. A plan that will continue to provide you with the education you need, from the EMS thought leaders around the world you are used to learning from, with access to all the companies and products you want to engage with and unique opportunities to interact with speakers, companies, and your peers.

This year is nothing like last. And EMS World Expo 2020 will not be like EMS World Expo 2019. But one thing is constant: Just like we were your trusted partner in the field in 2019, so too we will be by your side in 2020. We hope you'll join us for what will undoubtedly be the most unique EMS World Expo ever. 

Please refer to www.emsworldexpo.com for the newest announcements regarding EMS World Expo 2020. Thanks for your support.

Joshua D. Hartman, MBA, NRP, is the senior vice president of the Cardiovascular and Public Safety divisions at HMP, the parent company of EMS World.