Deployment Change Impact Study, British Columbia Ambulance Service, Victoria, British Columbia
IPS has been engaged to contact a study for the British Columbia Ambulance Service (BCAS) on the impact of paramedic staffing and ambulance deployment changes on patient outcomes, employee satisfaction, and operational performance. This multi-year project will answer important questions that could have implications for the entire emergency medical services industry.
EMS in British Columbia is facing pressures related to manpower and labor resourcing. BCAS, with the union that represents the prehospital clinical staff (CUPE 873), negotiated a letter of agreement laying out a method for changing the way in which Advanced Life Support (ALS) units are both deployed and staffed. Labor and management agreed to a framework for negotiating changes to staffing and deployment of ALS units while also agreeing that whatever changes take place must be evaluated empirically using methodologically sound processes. To date, BCAS and CUPE 873 have worked together to determine a number of features of the system evaluation related to ALS deployment, in particular many of the outcome measures have already been identified, and the process for determining allocation to exposure will remain an item that is negotiated between BCAS and CUPE 873.
To find out how IPS can help your organization, contact us at info@onlineips.com or call Mic Gunderson at 863-838-3295 or Todd Hatley at 919-656-5700.